Tropico

[peter grimes]

So I took some more screen shots with the in game tool, but couldn't locate them on my hard drive. I even searched for a list of all recently modified files, and nothing turned up. Does that tool only keep a temporary file that can be pushed to Facebook or twitter?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

My screenshots show up in the My Pictures folder of my Documents. Apparently it made a new "Tropico 4" folder.

The only thing I don't like is not being able to charge for food. The Food for the People Edict just doubles the amount the people eat. If you could charge for food, it would offset some of the marketplace costs of importing food. Being able to charge for healthcare would be nice too.

Sanatoriums have privatized healthcare. Sadly Supermarkets still give out food for free.

Anyway, I don't understand this game. It's not very challenging, but I'm having a great time. Aren't easy games supposed to suck?

 

[Joecoolyo]

Sanatoriums have privatized healthcare. Sadly Supermarkets still give out food for free.

Anyway, I don't understand this game. It's not very challenging, but I'm having a great time. Aren't easy games supposed to suck?

That's the weird thing about Tropico.

Once you learn how to play it, it becomes really easy. Yet you keep coming back.

I'm thinking its El Presidente's charisma.

 

[Polycrates]

Sanatoriums have privatized healthcare. Sadly Supermarkets still give out food for free.

The free food thing is so that the unemployed don't all starve to death.
If it makes you guys feel better, I'm pretty sure they can spend their entire wage on entertainment, even if they're already spending a third of their wage on housing...

Anyway, I don't understand this game. It's not very challenging, but I'm having a great time. Aren't easy games supposed to suck?

Yeah it certainly has sunk away an amazing amount of my time as well...I think it's that underneath everything it's actually a pretty robust simulation of the actual people running the society, plus the charm of the cute, casual tropical megalomania. And the music.

But the thing I would love most for this game is a proper harder mode, one where all those tyrannical edicts etc are actually useful (Rebel Yell doesn't cut it). If I knew how to mod the thing, I'd make the factions become more and more demanding over time (like in Absolute Power but more so), with more demands from each that are contradictory to each other, so you can't make them all happy. I'd make more-educated people much more demanding, so that building an intelligentsia is dangerous to a would-be dictator. I'd make faction respect a much larger component of each person's happiness, especially the better-educated. And I'd make the economy tighter, with lower export prices and considerably higher import prices (so that importing raw materials is still useful for keeping things trucking along, but not really worth basing an entire industry on). In particular, I'd raise the import price of food a LOT to encourage a home-grown food industry like in the olden days (while still making food import useful in a pinch to stave off starvation when things go a little pear-shaped).

 

[Gzz]

Well, I'm still running, and I already did :
-On a "Rebel Yell" with Intellectuals as Prominent faction, a island full of school and universities... but only a farm, AND THE APPROVAL STILL DOESEN'T FALL.
-"Free Elections", Ecologist faction as prominent with a Militar Junta
-A tiny island turned in a tourism paradise, with just three frmas of papaya for avoid problems.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The free food thing is so that the unemployed don't all starve to death.
If it makes you guys feel better, I'm pretty sure they can spend their entire wage on entertainment, even if they're already spending a third of their wage on housing...

Unfortunate for his case. I actually like it that healthcare and food are free. And even if they weren't, I take great pains to ensure full employment for all citizens.

But the thing I would love most for this game is a proper harder mode, one where all those tyrannical edicts etc are actually useful (Rebel Yell doesn't cut it). If I knew how to mod the thing, I'd make the factions become more and more demanding over time (like in Absolute Power but more so), with more demands from each that are contradictory to each other, so you can't make them all happy. I'd make more-educated people much more demanding, so that building an intelligentsia is dangerous to a would-be dictator. I'd make faction respect a much larger component of each person's happiness, especially the better-educated. And I'd make the economy tighter, with lower export prices and considerably higher import prices (so that importing raw materials is still useful for keeping things trucking along, but not really worth basing an entire industry on). In particular, I'd raise the import price of food a LOT to encourage a home-grown food industry like in the olden days (while still making food import useful in a pinch to stave off starvation when things go a little pear-shaped).

I agree with most of this. It's just too easy to please everyone, even factions that should be ideologically opposed to each other. The factions get to 100% just be meeting needs. What about their wants? I don't think lower export prices are necessary, but the higher import prices are a good idea. From what I hear, importing is easy mode.

 

[peter grimes]

The free food thing is so that the unemployed don't all starve to death.
If it makes you guys feel better, I'm pretty sure they can spend their entire wage on entertainment, even if they're already spending a third of their wage on housing...


Yeah it certainly has sunk away an amazing amount of my time as well...I think it's that underneath everything it's actually a pretty robust simulation of the actual people running the society, plus the charm of the cute, casual tropical megalomania. And the music.

But the thing I would love most for this game is a proper harder mode, one where all those tyrannical edicts etc are actually useful (Rebel Yell doesn't cut it). If I knew how to mod the thing, I'd make the factions become more and more demanding over time (like in Absolute Power but more so), with more demands from each that are contradictory to each other, so you can't make them all happy. I'd make more-educated people much more demanding, so that building an intelligentsia is dangerous to a would-be dictator. I'd make faction respect a much larger component of each person's happiness, especially the better-educated. And I'd make the economy tighter, with lower export prices and considerably higher import prices (so that importing raw materials is still useful for keeping things trucking along, but not really worth basing an entire industry on). In particular, I'd raise the import price of food a LOT to encourage a home-grown food industry like in the olden days (while still making food import useful in a pinch to stave off starvation when things go a little pear-shaped).

Aren't there mods for this game?

 

[Polycrates]

I agree with most of this. It's just too easy to please everyone, even factions that should be ideologically opposed to each other. The factions get to 100% just be meeting needs. What about their wants? I don't think lower export prices are necessary, but the higher import prices are a good idea. From what I hear, importing is easy mode.

Yeah, Absolute Power came the closest with its ever-increasing faction demands, but they were still pretty mild. Here the faction quests also make it very easy to get very good relations with all of them (they're a great idea, they just need a counterbalance).
As for lowering export prices, I always find that mid-to-late game I'm always swimming in money to the extent where it's never really an issue, and that most of that is coming directly from factories (with or without importing raw materials). I'd rather money stay tighter (if nothing else, so that those big purchases of golden statues etc actually feel like big purchases that were earned the hard way), and I'd rather tourism was more worthwhile in comparison to industry.
I dunno, really the only thing that bugs me about this game is that the difficulty is all front-loaded, and once you've clawed your way out of that initial pit, it's just smooth sailing from then on.

Aren't there mods for this game?

Not really, a couple of people have made really minor changes but that's about it. There used to be one that let you run the Modern Times buildings and the old buildings at the same time, but it sadly doesn't work any more.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

As for lowering export prices, I always find that mid-to-late game I'm always swimming in money to the extent where it's never really an issue, and that most of that is coming directly from factories (with or without importing raw materials). I'd rather money stay tighter (if nothing else, so that those big purchases of golden statues etc actually feel like big purchases that were earned the hard way), and I'd rather tourism was more worthwhile in comparison to industry.

I don't want the player to be too strapped for cash, especially in the beginning. When you have no money, you have no options. It's not a fun form of difficulty. What I would rather see is the player being forced to spend your money and managing development carefully among the options unlocked later. I think maintenance costs should be increased. They're just insignificant right now.

Definitely need to make tourism more competitive with industry. I was actually hoping that in the next Tropico tourism money would be obtained the same way like export money. Tourists buy packages and the money is collected as soon the boat arrives.

I dunno, really the only thing that bugs me about this game is that the difficulty is all front-loaded, and once you've clawed your way out of that initial pit, it's just smooth sailing from then on.

Nature of these games, I suppose. But that can be fixed with the population requiring more resources and effort to manage.

 

[peter grimes]

My screenshots show up in the My Pictures folder of my Documents. Apparently it made a new "Tropico 4" folder.

So, three times now I've checked that exact folder after taking screenshots, and 3 times it's been empty.

But the really odd thing is that this morning I didn't even have the little Camera button on my minimap.

I'm going to post on the Kalypso forums in hopes of a solution.