Location, Location, Location

[loverevolutionary]

The three things most important to making money in Tropico.  Tourism, industry, it doesn't matter.  Location of the buildings matters MOST.

The single greatest waste of time and money in the game is travel.  It takes YEARS for people to get all the way across a big island.  You can't make them sleep less, but in most games, the amount of time they spend sleeping simply doesn't compare to the amount of time they spend going here, going there.

Pollution: obviously, put polluting things on the downwind side of farming and housing.

Transporting goods: put factories in a direct line between source and dock. Put teamsters offices on the same line.

Tourism: Put ALL your tourist attractions between your hotels and the port or airport.  That way, all tourists will walk near all attractions at least twice.  I have several islands where almost every tourist visits four or more attractions.

Human services: put them in between jobs and houses.

I have heard people say to put guard posts far away from military housing so the soldiers will walk more, making more squares green.  This only works if you have no reason to make squares green in the first place.  If it takes your soldiers a year to get to that power plant to defend it from actual rebels, it won't be there when they arrive.  Put housing and guard posts near what you want to guard.  If you want more green squares on the gov control overlay, build more guard posts, don't make your soldiers walk further.

For police, this strategy might work, police don't actually need to be present at the scene of a crime, as it were.  But who is going to build a police station in the middle of nowhere with no housing around it?

Universities and schools.  I used to think it mattered where they were placed, like maybe you would get more students enrolling in a closer school.  But it doesn't seem to matter.

Radio stations: height is absolutely crucial for radio stations.  TV goes so far, height doesn't matter as much, but for radio, building on mountain tops can make a big difference in transmission range.

Army bases: Build a guard post near them.  An understaffed army base in the middle of nowhere is a tempting target for large rebel forces.

Sports stadium.  There is no single building in the game for which location is more important.  Sports stadiums have such a high maintenance cost, it's very hard to make any money with them unless they are constantly full.  But when they are, oh boy!  Don't build one too early, but save space for it in the entertainment district you've built in between your airport and hotels.  A dock won't cut it for traffic, it needs to be in between an airport and at least six hotels.  Prime the "sports-lover" pump by building a tennis court first.  I've made over $100,000 with a stadium in the right location (I had two airports: one first class, one coach; twelve cheap hotels, six regular and four luxery when I built the stadium.  It made well over $100,000 in twenty years.)

[nSh]

Well i place my factories near the dock and a teamster office near the factory, then i place another teamster office near the raw material producer(farm, mine). That way one office is responsible for taking goods to the factory and the other one for taking goods from the factory to the dock.

Pollution is not very important to me, i usualy place some fountans, trees and then even the area near the powerplant becomes green

With tourism, totally agree

Now about the stadium, when i build it it is usually in end of the game. I place it to raise the entertaiment level and because in the end i am making money like hell i dont expect to make money of the stadium.



PS dadgumed thats lots of hotels how long did u build them

[loverevolutionary]

It was a seventy year game, big flat island.  Travel agent, hotel corporate takeover, green thumb, well travelled, womanizer, coward.  I started on the leeward corner, so I had the first airport built by 1965.  I developed two tourist areas, one leading north up the coast, the other leading west.  The north one was the luxury area, with (eventually) four hotels and four luxery hotels.  The west area was the low class area that I developed second after deciding that I wanted to cater to all types of tourists some time in the seventies.  It had two hotels and (eventually) twelve cheap hotels.  The stadium went in the elbow between the two, right next to both airports.  The airports were arranged in an L with the fronts as close to touching as possible (front being the end with the terminal, in my mind) and pointing north and west, respectively .

Many factories have a certain amount of waste, meaning they produce slightly less units than they take in.  I often put my lumber mill and furniture factory near the forest, so the teamsters have less to carry to the dock.

[nSh]

 mmmmmmmm ur making me want to visit that island, stay in the luxury resort and make fun of the low class tourists

[Coconut Kid]

...  The single greatest waste of time and money in the game is travel.  It takes YEARS for people to get all the way across a big island.  You can't make them sleep less, but in most games, the amount of time they spend sleeping simply doesn't compare to the amount of time they spend going here, going there.

Outstanding point.

Pollution: obviously, put polluting things on the downwind side of farming and housing.

It is not obvious at all because it is not true. Pollution is an aura radiated from buildings and people. Farms and housing also pollute. It permanently changes the ground tile by tile. It become visible first on the downwind side, but eventually effects all sides. It is more useful to screen high polluting buildings with vegetation. The issue is covered more extensively in other threads.

Transporting goods: put factories in a direct line between source and dock. Put teamsters offices on the same line.

Put Teamster's Offices near pickup points.

Tourism: Put ALL your tourist attractions between your hotels and the port or airport.  That way, all tourists will walk near all attractions at least twice.  I have several islands where almost every tourist visits four or more attractions.

Do NOT cluster the hotels (bungalows, etc. are different); keep them at least 50 tiles apart. Cluster three, four or five attractions next to each one according to its class level. These "Pods" operate as separate rating areas. Check the other threads for more information.

Human services: put them in between jobs and houses.

It's certainly not so simple as that. They have to be distributed considering the entire population. People are not just walking to work when they make a snap decision to stop in at a service building. Look for thread on life modes which are connected with needs meters.

I have heard people say to put guard posts far away from military housing so the soldiers will walk more, making more squares green.  ...  Put housing and guard posts near what you want to guard.  ...  For police, this strategy might work, police don't actually need to be present at the scene of a crime, as it were.  But who is going to build a police station in the middle of nowhere with no housing around it?

So sad! When in work mode, soldiers (& generals) and policemen do NOT sit in the building; they walk a fixed patrol route - making a pattern of tiles temporarily green. Unfortunately, we have no reports mapping out the routes; I speculate they are within a zone of 20\25 tiles (just beyond its aura) of the employment building. That patrol zone plus the radiated effect of the building are the important placement criteria.

Universities and schools.  I used to think it mattered where they were placed, ...  But it doesn't seem to matter.

Once again, it's a matter of the total using population. Better they be close in and not out in the wilderness.

Radio stations: height is absolutely crucial for radio stations.  TV goes so far, height doesn't matter as much, but for radio, building on mountain tops [altitude] can make a big difference in transmission range.

Good point.

Army bases: Build a guard post near them.  ...

Good point. A good plan for the distribution of the army is essential.

Sports stadium.  There is no single building in the game for which location is more important.  ...

In spite of all the guesses, the real problem with the building is that its Service Quality Rating is way underpowered. Modify the bldg.dat file and it works fine from just a reasonable location -- you don't have to fine-tune it.