General Gaming Tropico 6 - El Presidente Wants You!

[Pikachu]

 

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Start your rule today: https://www.kalypsomedia.com/games/tr...

 

El Presidente is happy to reveal a special deal for his beloved subjects: all pre-order customers for the PC version of Tropico 6 will get instant beta access when pre-ordering through the Kalypso Shop!

 

There are two pre-order options for true Tropicans to choose from. The Standard Edition is available with a 10% discount and direct access to the Steam beta, while the special El Prez Edition comes with a 10% discount, beta access and exclusive in-game content (a tourist outfit for El Prez and a Flamingo Pond for the presidential palace), a digital soundtrack and a fabulous digital calendar. 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

I think the last one I played of these was 3.

[Pikachu]

 

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El Presidente returns with Tropico 6! Prove yourself once again as a feared dictator or peace-loving statesman on the island state of Tropico and shape the fate of your nation through four distinctive eras. Face new challenges on the international stage and always keep the needs of your people in mind.

In Tropico 6 you manage extensive archipelagos, build bridges to connect your islands and use new means of transportation and infrastructure for the first time in the series. Send your Tropicans on raids to steal the wonders of the world, including the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Customize your palace at will and give election speeches from your balcony, to win the favour of your subjects. 

With Tropico 6, your favourite dictator sim returns January 2019 on Windows PC, Mac, Linux in Summer 2019 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

 

[Pikachu]

 

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El Presidente is back! In times of political turmoil and social unrest, the people are calling for visionary leaders, who will steer the fate of their country with foresight and ingenuity. Prove yourself once again as a feared dictator or peace-loving statesman on the island state of Tropico and shape the fate of your nation through four distinctive eras. Face new challenges on the international stage and always keep the needs of your people in mind.

 

For the first time in the series, manage extensive archipelagos, build bridges to connect your islands and use new means of transportation and infrastructure. Send your Tropicans on raids to steal the wonders of the world, including the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Customize your palace at will and give election speeches from your balcony, to win the favor of your subjects.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

I've been reading some features on this game and it kinda makes me want to get it.

[TwinIon]

Yeah, this thread is nearly a year old, but this was just on sale recently so I picked it up.

 

I'd never played a Tropico game before 6. They've always interested me, but have somehow just never been high enough up my list to actually buy. I've put ~20 hours in the game, which isn't enough to have done it all, but enough that I've dug into pretty much all the systems.

 

Tropico is a competent game, but the complexities seem to lie primarily in obfuscation rather than strategy, and it's strengths are in the flavor, rather than gameplay depth. If your goal is to roleplay as a certain type of dictator, I think you'll probably enjoy Tropico much more than I have. The game allows the freedom to really go all in on certain gameplay styles, but the gameplay seems to only reward a much more narrow set. So if you want to be ruthless and feared more than loved, you can do it, but the game will be much harder than if you just keep most people mostly happy.

 

I think it's the stuff that exists because this is the sixth in the series that makes it feel like it's actually the first. Systems throughout the game seem to exist only because they've been in previous games, and therefore feel like either complete wastes of time or wholly incomplete thoughts, hidden deep in menus and almost impossible to surface otherwise.

 

I think the best example is "Average Caribbean Happiness."

 

In Tropico 6 you have three obvious types of happiness to balance out. You have the standard needs of the populace (food, healthcare, safety, etc.), the political wants of the people (communists, capitalists, etc.), and the geopolitical politics (deals with other major powers that you can trade with or war against). Those are all very obvious, even if how best to move any given relationship isn't usually very clear.

 

What is not at all obvious is that the happiness of your people doesn't matter in a vacuum. What actually matters is how the happiness of your people compares to the "Average Caribbean Happiness." You can have a population that is rich and happy, where most political factions generally like you, and where all the other countries love you, but if their happiness is less than the average caribbean happiness you will get voted out of office by an overwhelming majority (an instant loss). Given that this one number can offset all your progress in all other aspects of the game, you'd think it would be highlighted, but no, it exists only on one chart, on one screen, and the game basically never points you towards it or clarifies its importance.

 

There are a lot of things in Tropico 6 like that: things of vital importance that are generally invisible. It's really hard to figure out if you have the right number of teamsters to move things around the island. It's really hard to figure out if you're producing the right amount of a given resource for your consumption. It's really hard to figure out how various happiness ratings (fun, health, housing, etc.) affect each other. You can spend all your effort trying to make people have more fun, but if they lack something else, that fun rating won't increase, and there's nothing pointing you towards those variables as the thing preventing fun.

 

It's in these complexities that most of the challenge of Tropico 6 lies. Once sorted, the game becomes rather simple and straightforward. There are certain industries that are far more profitable than others, so go for those whenever possible. Determine through trial and error what the correct ratio of producing to consuming buildings, and assume it's correct after that. Don't run ragged dealing with happiness, just make sure you're slightly better off than your neighbors (by sabotaging them). It's very little strategy, and much more a competition between yourself and the UI.

 

The other frustration that I had was the complete lack of any kind of terraforming options. I understand if they want the island terrain to create the challenges for you, but it's still terribly annoying to find out that a building barley won't fit somewhere it really looks like it should. It's silly that I can build a nuclear power plant but can't fill in a puddle or deal with a slight incline. The road tool doesn't help either, in that it's inconsistent, limited, and seems to have a mind of its own. Still, it's nothing compared to the tunnel tool, which is probably the worst pathing tool I've ever seen in a game. It's almost completely worthless and impossible to use, and it would make such a big difference if it actually worked.

 

If Tropico interests you because it looks silly and you just want to be a dick of a dictator to your people, I think there's good fun to be had. As a sim game, you can almost certainly do better.

[Keyser_Soze]

As the only other person at this board who's played a tropico game and the only other person posting ITT, you didn't need to type all that.