Diplomatic Ministries Go Up First

[cabana_boi]

I'm still a total novice, but last night I tried a little something new. I started with medium sized island, nothing outstanding about it in any way. The first thing I did was make two farms tobacco, leaving two corn, then built another construction building. After it was done, I put one construction team to work building a diplomatic ministry and another building country homes and a few more farms - corn and tobacco.

What I discovered was, by building the diplomatic ministry early on, I could get blueprints from Russian making apartments cheaper to build, so I skipped building any tenements at all, which seemed to make my people happy.

Perhaps it was just luck (and I'm only at about 1965) but the money is rolling in with a handful of tobacco and corn farms, a cigar factory and a newspaper. I concentrated on building quite a bit of housing first off, and had an abundance of construction teams, so I could get the churches and clinics up pronto. I was doing so well money-wise, I got to put in some purty landscaping and I've noticed my people seem a little happier. (or is it just me who seems happier when my island is nicely landscaped with tree-lined streets and gardens in front of the palace?)

All this said and done...I was reading some happiness scores here on the boards which really amazed me. I think mine usually hover in the 50 area...never higher. Not sure what's up with that...

[Junta_Joe]

50 is actually decent.

70+ requires massive investment.

I've never obtained over 80 without cheating.

And I've played this game relentlessly since it came out.

Lots of factors affect happiness.

Quit relying on clinics and churches.  They have a low average of satisfaction.  Build one of each and close the slots after the hospital and cathedral go up.  Build them early too.  It takes years to get everyone through them.  And build more than one of each.  Say one for every 200 peons.

Another hard one is job satisfaction.  Massive micromanagement is the key here.  Get everyone into their proper jobs.  They hate working below their education level.  Sweat shops don't help either.

Media is a big help.  Early on use media to earn money, increase skills (Learning with Larry), and win elections.  Convert them in your last few years to increase respect and liberty.

Entertainment is easier than most think.  Normal restaurants at the middle setting and nightclubs really do a good job.  Use the same 200 population ratio for each one.  A single pub early on is handy to pop the Mardi Gras edict.  Just stick to one pub, however.  Their satisfaction level is poor.

Housing should be apartments or above.  Tenements and bunk houses should be though of as temp housing to be bulldozed later.

Beauty is solved with one simple thing.  Large fountains placed will keep beauty up for a radius of one large yellow square (hot key C) in every direction.  Use them liberally.

Try some of this out and see if you get up to the 60+ range.

If you can keep the happiness score over 60, consider your efforts well done.

[Brf]

In my most recent HIgh Score Island game, my happiness was mostly around 70, but that game let you use Rapido. In my Happy games, I have gotten happiness up over 80, but that involves triggering some 1-time edicts and tax-cut all at the same time, just before the game ends. The highest sustained happiness I have achieved without cheating is probably close to 70.
Be sure to check your Happiness page in the journal often and fix the low ones.

[cabana_boi]

Thanks again to you both for more fabulous info!!  

Curious - when you've built tenements and want to bulldoze them - do you just kick your people out on the street? I built apartments and the rent is higher so they just stick to the tenements in one of my scenarios. I also keep building apartments and they all seem to be full so should I just keep building them until it's obvious some are empty and then kick 'em out of the tenement and bulldoze it?

Junta_Joe: You mention keeping people in their proper jobs...how do you do this? I've noticed that people who seem overqualified end up as farmers and construction folk - I don't like to fire people unless I'm in financial difficulty or if I'm bulldozing something because I think it might reflect in my happiness score.

The happiness journal is incredibly helpful - a few points up or down in any section gives incedible hints as to where I'm needing improvement.

One final question this morning...is it worth it to bulldoze things and rebuild for the sake of beauty and traffic flow? I've found one section of town is getting cramped and I'm a bit OCD about keeping certain types of buildings together. Is this worth a restructuring or do you think that'll be more detrimental than it's worth?

[Junta_Joe]

Firing people should be an agressive project at all times.  Shoot and replace stubborn ones if necessary.  They tend to stay in jobs they have experience in  regardless if they like them or not.  Evictions should be the same way.  Being cautious will not solve your problems in this game.  Firing and evicting are valuable tools to be exploited.  A college educated farmer may resent being fired repeatedly, but, will become happy once they settle in at their better job.  Fire them right as they leave the boat if necessary.

Building density actually is a good thing.  It reduces travel times.  As long as you have a large fountain in the mix closeby then stack the buildings side-by-side.  The sooner the peon gets his meal and nap is the sooner he gets back to work.

Building sufficient housing is important.  Keep building the apartments until you have free space before you bulldoze the tennement.  Though close in size, apartments only house about half the amount of people that a tennement does.  You will need a lots of apartments on an island.  Best to prepare for this eventuallity.  Don't be surprised if housing eventually fills half the island.

[cabana_boi]

huh...I was all cautious of firing and evictions, but as I was growing closer to retirement, I started feeling more aggressive. I evicted folks and forced them into tenements, fired construction workers acting as doctors and priests and tried to get folks situated. I ended up with a 53 happiness rating and in the end, a whopping 200K and no place to spend it.

Does extra money in the account do anything for a final score or should it be spent if you can spend it?

I'm making a definite improvement (thanks to all yer help!) and have gone from a score of 6 (heheh) in the first game to a little over 300. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm getting there!  

[Junta_Joe]

Extra money only counts if you pick certain winning conditions at map setup time.

Fire and evict as early as you can.  The sooner they settle into proper jobs and homes, the longer they will be happy.

Sounds like you need to take some time and read the manual.  It contains some basic concepts on happiness that you are infirm on.  While poor on tactics and instructions, I found the manual overviews to be strong conceptually.

[cabana_boi]

I'll give it another look - I have to admit it put me to sleep the first time I read through it and all the questions I had, seemed to not have answers in there. (course they might have been rather silly questions... )

[Brf]

fired construction workers acting as doctors and priests and tried to get folks situated

Do you mean you fired the people with construction worker icons who were in the churches and hospitals? or the other way around?

You should look at the Lists/Education page and fire any workers who are in jobs that are below their education level. So if a college educated male is in a construction office and a hospital spot is open, you should fire them and hopefully they will show up in the hospital, Their icon will remain as a construction worker until they actually walk all the way to the hospital.

Another way to get people out of a tenement when there are affordable apartment spots open is to raise the rent on that tenement to 30 pesos until they all leave. Then drop the tenement rent back down to 2 for the poor people who cant afford the apartments.

[Egg]

Hello cani_bai and welcome to the cafe.

  Well it is not a problem to get the diplomatic ministry up first but usually people would get the church up first. When i first started playing and always lost an election i thought it was because of housing so i got the diplomatic ministry up first, then russian development aid and started with the houses.

  Soon i found out that the religous fraction was the one who was always opposing me during the elections. I think after you get the church you should get the immigration office.
 

[Black_eagle120]

you must have all open laborer jobs blocked and you must immediately block the job you fire him from.

That is unnecesary if you fire (and Evict if i'm not mistaken) a person from a job (or home) they cant get that job back for 2 or 3 years (i.e. if you fire a farmer he cant be farmer for that farm for 2 or 3 years (cant be a farmer for that farm but can be for others) and besides thay will go to job that payes more regardless of skill so if a college educated laborer want's to stay a laboror, there is somthing defenetly screwed up with your economy (either that or you are new)

[Brf]

thay will go to job that payes more regardless of skill so if a college educated laborer want's to stay a laboror, there is somthing defenetly screwed up with your economy (either that or you are new)

No. You are dead wrong there. If a college educated worker is in an uneducated job for more than a few months they usually will NOT take a high-school educated job if they are fired from the uneducated one. Sometimes they will not even take a college educated job. Sometimes you will get lucky and they will take the better job, but if they dont take it immediately you will sometimes need to close every open job except for the one you wish them to take before they will take it.

[whatever]

Diplomatic Ministries and banks go up first.  Banks set on urban development to cut building costs.  DM set on "nobody gets out alive" to keep the highly skilled educated people on your island at low wages.  Ship em in pay them low and keep them there until you can afford to pay them higher than carribbean wages, then they stay on their own.  Makes some money with farms and industry then immediately set up a high school and college so that you don't have to keep paying educated to come in.  Do a education edict to increase folks going to school.  Katching.

[Coconut Kid]

they will go to job that pays more regardless of skill so if a college educated laborer wants to stay a laborer, there is something definitely screwed up with your economy (either that or you are new)

No. You are dead wrong there. If a college educated worker is in an uneducated job for more than a few months they usually will NOT take a high-school educated job if they are fired from the uneducated one. Sometimes they will not even take a college educated job. Sometimes you will get lucky and they will take the better job, but if they don't take it immediately you will sometimes need to close every open job except for the one you wish them to take before they will take it.

Sadly, everyone tends to overlook the effect of "faction support" on what job an NPC will take. Sometimes the combination of experience and faction support will overcome the desire to take work according to education level \ social class.

[Coconut Kid]

Diplomatic Ministries and banks go up first.  Banks set on urban development to cut building costs.  DM set on "nobody gets out alive" to keep the highly skilled educated people on your island at low wages.  ...

Whatever makes a good - if garbled - point about the initial ration of buildings on a random map. At the risk of repeating myself, let's review the story line for the game's beginning.

As you know Tropico is a small, underdeveloped, relatively impoverished Caribbean island quite remote from anywhere else. Nonetheless, it is an independent state with all the rudimentary trappings of its own government. While the most important part is you, excellency, with your magnificent Palace, there are other important government buildings - albeit in a rundown or unfinished condition. Your predecessors somehow never seemed to last long enough to get them working. As the new Presidente, you have considerable flexibility in what goals you pursue and how you pursue them. However, there are cold realities to deal with.

The developers random map is - IMHO - a bad selection of initial buildings ridiculously placed. The bad selection is in small part what is included, but more significantly what is not included.

• Wrongly included:
  • Teamster's Office. Since the workers will carry their own goods to an appropriate destination, and the Teamsters are only to add efficiency. It should be left up to the player to decide when to add the Teamsters.
    • This mistake was probably due to inadequate playtesting.
• Wrongly left out (minimum):
  • Bank. No sovereign nation can operate without a bank of its own to keep track of the 'treasury'. It should be on the map next door to the Palace set to the default of 'Urban Development' with one Banker.
  • Marketplace. Even those inept predecessors knew that the Port area had to include a place selling Hola Cola.
  • Road. What self-respecting nation would not have at least a 100 tile road leading straight away from its main Port?
  • Immigration Office. There sits the half finished hulk next to the Port beside the Marketplace. The Bureaucrats are working on a Farm waiting for construction to be finished.
  • Diplomatic Ministry. The foundation is laid next to the Palace garden, but your predecessors tried to do foreign affairs by themselves - you will find the unanswered letters from the great powers in that round file next to your desk.
  • Goat Ranch. You have to be able to throw a Bar-B-Q to win an election.

.
Naturally that will not satisfy the militarists and oppressors, but it at least looks more like a sovereign country.