Tropico 3 out

[Axxon]

If we have any fans of the Tropico series, Tropico 3 is out. I'm downloading it now. Should have a couple of hours to play with it. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them. I liked both games and had just purchased them together as the Tropico Reloaded pack. I did like the first one better so hopefully that's where they went this time. From what I've read they did.

[Axxon]

Wow, what a night for Cox High Speed. I just hit 4.8 MB/s on my download. It's moving between 2.0 and was in the 4's for a while then it spiked to this. Already 74% of 2.8G done since I typed that last email. Sweet.

[Axxon]

I just finished the tutorial. It is basically an update of the original which is what I wanted it to be. The graphics are great but keep in mind I've recently been playing the original so I'm comparing it to that.

From the tutorial it is the same game but with better layout, graphics and some new options like your Presidente has an avatar so you can walk amongst your citizens which you can but you don't do anything in the tutorial. It says you can shoot them, help them build buildings, talk to them to boost their spirit ect so we'll see if it matters.

The tutorial really worked well for me. They integrated the steps logically. For example, when they have you open the almanac page you're on the faction happiness screen. They tell you to poke around the almanac and then close it to continue. On that page I saw that the religious happiness was the lowest at 25 percent. Poking around with that I found that the biggest gripes are that I'm an alcoholic and we don't have a church.

Ok, later in the tutorial, when you're about to give a speech it mentions that we need a church to make the religious people happy and the tutorial on building later is building the church. I liked how it built like that.

I did notice one bug in the tutorial but it isn't a gameplay one. At one point it asks you to fire some guy and he doesn't work for you. I just fired some random guy and the tutorial continued as if I'd fired the guy he mentioned. No biggie but I thought I'd mention it.

Now, off to try the full game.

[Neon_Chaos]

It's essentially the same game as the original with updated graphics.

I hope that this is a good stepping stone for the future of the series.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

It's essentially the same game as the original with updated graphics.

I hope that this is a good stepping stone for the future of the series.

Just finished my first full game. It was very easy as expected but it was a lot of fun. It is pretty much the original but it has a few added touches. Anyway, lots of fun. I have two very minor complaints though, wretched voice acting and people complaining about the oddest things. They wanted a Cathedral which costs a fortune and takes a long time to build. Me, being a kind and generous ruler promised that I'd build one by next election.

Well, I started construction and it was chugging along but I kept getting complaints from my advisor that people were whining about needing a cathedral. Jeez people, a little patience here. You KNOW it's getting built. 2 of the builders are high up in the Religious faction, they might have mentioned something about it.

Anyway, the cathedral wasn't complete before the election but I didn't lose any votes or support so it seems that they recognized that I was building one ( or a bug ) so that seems good.


Very promising so far. I would have gladly paid for Tropico with new graphics so I'm very happy right now. Oh, and you can create your own presidente and assign his traits.

[bulletsponge]

did not know this. ill check out the demo

[spleen1015]

This is a game that I would normally buy, but I have bought Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2, and Brutal Legend in the last couple of weeks. Top that off with OOTP grabbing a hold of me after the latest patch, I won't have time for it.

Then Dragon Age: Origins is on the way.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Axxon

Just finished my first full game. It was very easy as expected but it was a lot of fun. It is pretty much the original but it has a few added touches. Anyway, lots of fun. I have two very minor complaints though, wretched voice acting and people complaining about the oddest things. They wanted a Cathedral which costs a fortune and takes a long time to build. Me, being a kind and generous ruler promised that I'd build one by next election.

Well, I started construction and it was chugging along but I kept getting complaints from my advisor that people were whining about needing a cathedral. Jeez people, a little patience here. You KNOW it's getting built. 2 of the builders are high up in the Religious faction, they might have mentioned something about it.

Anyway, the cathedral wasn't complete before the election but I didn't lose any votes or support so it seems that they recognized that I was building one ( or a bug ) so that seems good.


Very promising so far. I would have gladly paid for Tropico with new graphics so I'm very happy right now. Oh, and you can create your own presidente and assign his traits.

I make it a point to immediately build 2 more construction buildings at the beginning of each game. It allows me to provide 14 job slots and allow me to plop down more buildings at a time without delay.

I also use El Presidente primarily to speed up construction by having him enter the building being built.

[Swaggs]

Link?

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Link?

I got it off steam.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

I make it a point to immediately build 2 more construction buildings at the beginning of each game. It allows me to provide 14 job slots and allow me to plop down more buildings at a time without delay.

I also use El Presidente primarily to speed up construction by having him enter the building being built.

Yep, I figured out the construction thing too late but it helps massively. I keep forgetting about assigning el presidente to build but he seems to do it on his own anyway when I check on him sometimes.

[path12]

So I still have the original Tropico loaded and don't really have any issues with the graphics on it.

Is this version different enough to matter?

[Marc Vaughan]

Notes it down as something to look into post crunch .... quite liked the first ones

[Coffee Warlord]

"El Presidente. Your people demand a place of worship!"

"Ahem. If they have time to pray, they aren't spending enough time in the factories. GOD SAYS BACK TO WORK, BICHINOS!"

[illinifan999]

Does it still have a sandbox mode?

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

Does it still have a sandbox mode?

Yes, it does, including random maps where you can adjust island size, elevation, vegetation and mineral deposits. Should really add to the replay value.

You can also create challenges for others to play and of course play challenges they have created. I haven't delved deep into this but it appears really basic. Choose an island ( or random ) and set some parameters. Nothing really edity about it.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by path12

So I still have the original Tropico loaded and don't really have any issues with the graphics on it.

Is this version different enough to matter?

Hard to say. It's not that different but that said, the only main issue I had with Tropico graphics are how I can't easily rotate the map. I haven't been able to on any of my xp or higher machines. Huge lag.

I would say, that being said, the easier to navigate UI, the improved graphics, the new maps, the random map sandbox, the challenges, your avatar, all of these are good add ons and make the game more fun.

Probably you could skip this but you should play the demo. I think the overhaul has given us basically the better game even though it's not that different play wise. I can't imagine someone still playing Tropico not appreciating their effort. Maybe wait until the price drops? That'd make sense but I'm not one bit upset that I didn't.

[MrBug708]

I've played it for about 20 hours now since it came out. It's still fun, but can get really repetitive. I agree that you usually need to build construction, garage, housing, and one more industry in your first wave. Preferably a mine if you have one

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

I've played it for about 20 hours now since it came out. It's still fun, but can get really repetitive. I agree that you usually need to build construction, garage, housing, and one more industry in your first wave. Preferably a mine if you have one

Actually, I have been doing it a bit differently. Start with at least two, possibly three revenue sources. Check the almanac for the best export prices and keep an eye for the future. A garage may or may not be needed depending on how far you start from the docks. In the game I'm playing now, I had to build one by my Bauxite mine where I basically have a second town set up pretty far away from the palace which has a coffee farm and lumber yard adn logging camp.

Mainly, what I disagree with is building a second construction yard early or possibly ever. In the beginning I'm growing fast enough ( three buildings first year ) to get to zero unemployment and having to wait for immigrants. Sure, I guess I could fire dockworkers and teamsters early but I strongly prefer letting them get experience on their job. They are going to need it real soon.

Anyway, this game I am playing now, it's jan 1955 and I have 38,738 in the bank and I have, among other things,I may have missed three apartments, a house, three tenements, an armory, dip office, high school, clinic, restaurant, and two marketplaces.

All of this with one lowly construction office. Now, to me it's the second wave where I build the comforts like churches ect and maybe I'll build a second one now but the last few games I've played ( 2 mission, 1 sandbox ) I haven't needed one. We'll see. This game has gone faster since I was installed by CIA giving me 2k a year additional income. That basically bought me a third building ( the lumberyard - a revenue producer not a sink ) and yes, I had it finished before january. Are you remembering to move your presidente to each building site? It does help.

Just another take on the construction office issue.

[Axxon]

dola, and I had an earthquake knock down a tenemant and a garage that I have already rebuilt. Damn, I could have four garages now. I would have surely started a third town by the gold mine and in that case I surely would have opened a closer construction office because that's the other side of the map but man, it'd be worth it.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've never played any Tropico game. Is it turn based or real time?

I think at the very least, it is time to try out the demo.

[MrBug708]

It's real time, but anytime you build, it pauses the game. Think hybrid but smaller scale version of Sim City

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Axxon

Actually, I have been doing it a bit differently. Start with at least two, possibly three revenue sources. Check the almanac for the best export prices and keep an eye for the future. A garage may or may not be needed depending on how far you start from the docks. In the game I'm playing now, I had to build one by my Bauxite mine where I basically have a second town set up pretty far away from the palace which has a coffee farm and lumber yard adn logging camp.

Mainly, what I disagree with is building a second construction yard early or possibly ever. In the beginning I'm growing fast enough ( three buildings first year ) to get to zero unemployment and having to wait for immigrants. Sure, I guess I could fire dockworkers and teamsters early but I strongly prefer letting them get experience on their job. They are going to need it real soon.

Anyway, this game I am playing now, it's jan 1955 and I have 38,738 in the bank and I have, among other things,I may have missed three apartments, a house, three tenements, an armory, dip office, high school, clinic, restaurant, and two marketplaces.

All of this with one lowly construction office. Now, to me it's the second wave where I build the comforts like churches ect and maybe I'll build a second one now but the last few games I've played ( 2 mission, 1 sandbox ) I haven't needed one. We'll see. This game has gone faster since I was installed by CIA giving me 2k a year additional income. That basically bought me a third building ( the lumberyard - a revenue producer not a sink ) and yes, I had it finished before january. Are you remembering to move your presidente to each building site? It does help.

Just another take on the construction office issue.

I think I suffer from the build fast.

And I've never looked at export prices, I'll hafta do that!

[AgustusM]

posts like this are why I still come to FOFC. I loved the original and had no idea there was a new one coming out.

[vex]

360 version got pushed back to February

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

It's real time, but anytime you build, it pauses the game. Think hybrid but smaller scale version of Sim City

I don't know how much smaller the scale is but it's more political than SC. I don't recall being able to assassinate the other guy running against you as mayor.

[Icy]

I have played the demo and looks fun, never played the original but looks similar to old "Caesar" games that were really fun and addictive.

Now i'm not sure about what to buy through steam:

- Tropico Reloaded for 15€ (Tropico 1 + Expansion + Tropico 2)
- Tropico 3 for 36€

One thing i don't like from 3 is that you cant play it in windowed mode, that is a must for me in any game, Alt+Tab is so slow with this game. That is why i'm considering buying the "reloaded" release with the original version, expansion and second version as those can be played windowed plus are cheaper and got different versions (tropico 2 is pirates based).

Will i miss a lot of features choosing 1 vs 3? I don't care about the 3d graphics, i'n fact i'm not a big fan of them for strategic games as they usualy distract you and make everything more laggy.

[CraigSca]

As a new player I have a couple of questions.

When you look at the topographical map is red "high" and green "low"? I've noticed that some of the crop need more humidity than others but I can't figure out what high humidity is red or green.

How do you find mining resources? When I looked at the map, I didn't see any mineral deposits to take advantage of - am I missing something here?

When you build a farm or other industry, what impact does having a road nearby have? How close to the road must the industry be?

I love being able to get games right away through Steam but I can't stand the lack of manual - there are so many things I just don't know having never played this game in the past.

Thanks for the help!

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

As a new player I have a couple of questions.

When you look at the topographical map is red "high" and green "low"? I've noticed that some of the crop need more humidity than others but I can't figure out what high humidity is red or green.

I always assumed that what tiles were green when you placed the building were good.

Originally Posted by CraigSca

How do you find mining resources? When I looked at the map, I didn't see any mineral deposits to take advantage of - am I missing something here?

When you click to build a mine, the terrain should show what "tiles" have something.

Originally Posted by CraigSca

When you build a farm or other industry, what impact does having a road nearby have? How close to the road must the industry be?

Again, assumption because I haven't read the manual yet, but I think it's just easier access. And I presumed that the road must connect with the little driveway of the building.

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I love being able to get games right away through Steam but I can't stand the lack of manual - there are so many things I just don't know having never played this game in the past.

Thanks for the help!

I got it from Gamersgate and there was a link for the manual. I wouldn't be surprised if the Tropico developer's site has a link as well.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I always assumed that what tiles were green when you placed the building were good.

You want to place your farms next to the green squares ( so they can work them, they don't work the actual farm building so keep that in mind when placing ) no matter what the crop.

When you click to build a mine, the terrain should show what "tiles" have something.

You can also open the overlay panel, second from right, and select the mines button and you can see a breakdown for planning purposes.

Again, assumption because I haven't read the manual yet, but I think it's just easier access. And I presumed that the road must connect with the little driveway of the building.

It is correct that it's for access. Only those buildings that specifically say they can access a road need to be connected because they have garages and dispatch their own vehicles, no road connect, no vehicles, much longer to get their product out to the dock, build a new building, ect. To really speed up productivity make sure there is a garage near where people eat, worship, relax ect so they can get a vehicle from there to their workplaces.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Icy

I have played the demo and looks fun, never played the original but looks similar to old "Caesar" games that were really fun and addictive.

Now i'm not sure about what to buy through steam:

- Tropico Reloaded for 15€ (Tropico 1 + Expansion + Tropico 2)
- Tropico 3 for 36€

One thing i don't like from 3 is that you cant play it in windowed mode, that is a must for me in any game, Alt+Tab is so slow with this game. That is why i'm considering buying the "reloaded" release with the original version, expansion and second version as those can be played windowed plus are cheaper and got different versions (tropico 2 is pirates based).

Will i miss a lot of features choosing 1 vs 3? I don't care about the 3d graphics, i'n fact i'm not a big fan of them for strategic games as they usualy distract you and make everything more laggy.

Tropico plays really laggy on my newer computers, especially when rotating the screen. This really is annoying. At first I thought maybe it was because I was playing through GameTap but with reloaded I get the same problem. It was almost a deal breaker for me ( T2 runs fine ). If you don't mind that though and a less well laid out UI then getting 2 games would be the ticket.

If you can find a demo of Tropico I'd suggest seeing how it plays on your machine. Again, when I first bought it years ago it ran well but I can't understand why on both my new computers and the one I sold about a year ago it's got it's issues with changing the view and you really are going to want to do that to put buildings down how you want.

[Axxon]

dola, from the Mucho Macho review.

There is a glitch in the map scrolling that causes an irritating lag if you try to scroll or rotate the view and the effect is more pronounced the closer you are zoomed in. Also, if my lovely Isle is going to be flattened by a hurricane every once and a while, it would be cool to see the damage actually happening. As it stands, the island is obscured by clouds and whenthey blow away, some of my buildings are destroyed, I was really looking for a little more of a show.

Apparently this has been a known issue but I don't remember it as pronounced as I do now.

[Draft Dodger]

never played Tropico but I dl'd the demo for 3 last week. enjoyed it and decided to check out Tropico 1. lots of fun. does get a little thin after a while, but a great time waster for me.

fwiw, Tropico 1 played fine on my system, but I never rotate the screen

[Axxon]

If you could check rotating the screen I"d love to hear how it works on your system.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Axxon

If you could check rotating the screen I"d love to hear how it works on your system.

Just loaded up the demo to test it out on my system and didn't really have a problem with rotating. It didn't always happen, but sometimes there would be a slight lag in buildings and landscape redraw. It didn't have seem to have an impact on the act of rotating the map, that still went smoothly.

I'm currently running on a 2.66 Ghz Core Duo, 4 GB of RAM, and a Mobility Radeon HD 4650 with 1 GB of RAM.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Axxon

If you could check rotating the screen I"d love to hear how it works on your system.

just checked and it worked fine for me.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Just loaded up the demo to test it out on my system and didn't really have a problem with rotating. It didn't always happen, but sometimes there would be a slight lag in buildings and landscape redraw. It didn't have seem to have an impact on the act of rotating the map, that still went smoothly.

I'm currently running on a 2.66 Ghz Core Duo, 4 GB of RAM, and a Mobility Radeon HD 4650 with 1 GB of RAM.

Tropico 1 I presume?

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

just checked and it worked fine for me.

That's how I'd remembered it but again, last three computers, laggy and it seems to get a lot of google hits too. I wonder if it's a graphics card kinda glitch or something?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Axxon

Tropico 1 I presume?

No, the Tropico 3 demo.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by mckerney

No, the Tropico 3 demo.

Ahh, the lag I was mentioning was in Tropico 1. Three has been solid for me too.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Axxon

Ahh, the lag I was mentioning was in Tropico 1. Three has been solid for me too.

Ah, gotcha. I don't think I'm going to be buying Tropico 3 until there's a sale on Steam for it, though I might be loading up Tropico if I can find the disc for it. I'll let you know how that works if I do.

[RainMaker]

Downloaded the demo on 360. Does anyone know if the 360 version will be the same as the PC version? Or is it toned down? Would rather play on the 360.

[Abe Sargent]

I just start playing it today and boy does it win my Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 Award for sequel that is the most identical to its predecessor for 2009.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I just start playing it today and boy does it win my Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 Award for sequel that is the most identical to its predecessor for 2009.

Is that bad or good?

[Abe Sargent]

Tropico was my 20th overall game in my countdown, or near to it. Being very similar ot that is not a bad thing. I just for more, you know?

[path12]

I picked it up during the Steam sale but haven't done much with it yet. Looking forward to playing it more in the next few weeks.

[RainMaker]

Has anyone given Tropico 4 a run? Seems to have some nice new features but not sure it warrants a full purchase at the moment.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Has anyone given Tropico 4 a run? Seems to have some nice new features but not sure it warrants a full purchase at the moment.

Haven't picked it up yet, but the reviews seem to say it's pretty much the same as 3 with only marginal improvements. Definitely not worth getting full price IMO.

[CrimsonFox]

I've been playing Tropico 5 late4ly to train up for next year when we fully bcome a junta nation. anyone else play these games? Having a lot of fun but can't stop the rebel attacks and now can't stop losing elections. Took forever to figure out the education level for jobs thing. The constitution really screws me every time. It's like I give the people what they want and then they immediately get pissed.

[korme]

It's been so long that I've played Tropico 5 that, when I saw this thread this morning, I legitimately thought Tropico 3 was a new release this week.