Gametap

Game included in the

Hard drive space

Full download: 2.37 GB
Initial download: 1.25 GB

Download time

Kb/s	20 MB	8 MB	512 KB
Time	8mn	21mn	5h 41mn

System requirements

Operating System : 2000/XP, Vista, Seven
DirectX version : 9.0c
Processor : 2400 MHz
RAM : 1024 MB
Video RAM : 256 MB

Additional info

Category : Management
Difficulty : Average
Multiplayer :
Language : us

Official Site
Publisher : Kalypso Kalypso

Alcohol Reference

Tobacco Reference

Violence

Mild Suggestive ...

Copyright

Getting Started

Before settling in on your new island, the first thing to do is determine what sort of leader you will be. You can choose from a list of pre-existing leaders drawn from Caribbean and Latin American history, or you can create your own strongman from scratch. When you create a new leader, you will be able to choose your background, the method of your rise to power, two positive qualities, and two flaws. Each of these will directly impact your ability to govern, so choose wisely.

Buildings

To open the buildings menu, right-click anywhere on open space. Then choose what you want to build, and click where you want it to go. This will place the foundation. Workers from your construction crew will then complete the building. Be aware that if the building is too far away from your existing construction offices, it may take a very long time for your workers to complete it. To speed things up, click on the foundation and increase the construction priority or add an additional construction office. Once built, the building will automatically fill up with residents/workers. If you wish to adjust any of the building¿s options, such as rent, wages, or upgrades, just click on it to open the menu. You will probably want to begin by building the basics, such as housing and farms, to make sure that your people at least have food and shelter.

Economy

As presidente, the Tropican economy is completely under your control. Everything from iron exports to drinks at the local pub goes into your coffers, and you can set all wages and rents across the island. When you begin, your economy will largely be based on the natural resources available, and you should build farms and mines to take advantage of them. The workers from your teamster¿s office will automatically transport whatever is produced to your docks, where they will be shipped overseas to be sold. Once you have earned a little money, you may want to consider expanding into other areas, such as industry or tourism. For industry, you can build factories to turn your raw goods into more expensive products, such as cigars or rum. For tourism, you can build fancy hotels, restaurants and casinos to lure rich Americanos to your tropical paradise. Just make sure to keep the hotels a good distance away from the rest of your town, especially the poorer parts.

Politics

It¿s worth remembering that while you may rule with a heavy hand, you are not necessarily dictator-for-life, and you will need to keep your people happy in order to avoid getting defeated in the next election, or worse, overthrown in a coup. Each Tropican citizen will belong to a political faction, and keeping these factions happy is the name of the game. It will be impossible to please them all, but try to keep track of which factions are larger than others, and put your efforts into satisfying them. For example, if the religious faction is powerful, try building a church or two. Of course, if election time does roll around and you find yourself on the losing side of the polls, you can always use your ¿influence¿ to make sure that things go more your way.

Tip: Time Management

At standard speed, you can watch your Tropicans walk around and go about their daily lives, but it can take a very long time to accomplish anything. To speed things up, use the arrows on the menu at the lower left to set the speed to fast or very fast. You can also pause the game if you want to just look around without worrying. The game will also auto-pause whenever you use menus or the almanac.

Tip: Almanac

The almanac is the best way to keep track of the status of your island and population. It tracks happiness, finances, politics, and more, and breaks them down so that you can follow the details. Check the almanac often to ensure that your policies are working as you expect.

Basics

Tropico 3 has two play modes: Campaign and Sandbox. In Campaign Mode, you will be given existing islands to run and specific goals to accomplish, such as producing a certain amount of food, or staying in office a set period of time. In Sandbox Mode, you will be given a new island to run as you see fit. Though your general aims are to make your island prosperous and your people happy, your only real goal is to stay in power. So if you would prefer to run a repressive and corrupt state, you certainly can, but you may also want to stash some money away in your Swiss bank account¿just in case.

International Relations

It¿s not just local politics that you have to keep an eye on. There¿s a whole world out there, and with the Cold War in full swing, you will need to pick a side. Both the US and the USSR have designs on your little island, and they will provide financial assistance depending on how much they like you at the time. Make your society more capitalist, and the US will approve, and vice-versa. You can also build a diplomacy office to manage your relations more closely. Get chummy enough and one of the big powers may be willing to ally with you. On the other hand, if one side gets too irritated with you, they may just decide to invade.

Edicts

Edicts are special laws that you can enforce at will, provided you meet certain criteria. Some are ways to help your people, some are designed to please certain political factions, and some are simply excuses to line your own pockets. Edicts can have significant effects, so think carefully before issuing them.

Tip: If You Want Something Done Right...

A new feature of Tropico 3 is the avatar. To use the avatar, click the head on the menu at the lower left. With the avatar selected, your leader becomes available as a character that you can control on the map. You can visit farms or factories to increase productivity, visit construction sites to speed things up, or visit the palace to give a speech from the balcony that will improve your popularity.

Tip: Human Resources

To make sure you are working efficiently, you will need a large enough population to support all the jobs you create. To increase your population, you can build an immigration office and tell them to open the ports. Of course, if your population gets too large, you could run into unemployment. Some jobs may also require skilled workers. Early on, you can hire foreigners for an additional cost, but you will eventually want to build a high school and college to educate your people.