high initial wages?

[Peckering]

Alway sounds like a good idea closing the construction offices, but do they do the maintenance?
Anyway last time i shut 4 offices at once fully fifty percent of the people made unemployed, took up jobs as rebels, which kinda sucks.
P

[Egg]

  There should be no reason for them to turn into rebels unless they are all living in shacks, lack of food and entertainment, really unhappy. If you were using opressive ruling then that would be logical

[Morticcia]

Peckering, before you go off and eliminate forty jobs, you should make sure you have employment available, or it will only spell trouble.

Your best bet is to provide jobs before you lay off workers, and/or only fire people in shifts so that there isn't of glut of job seekers at any one time.

[Peckering]

This is something El Presidente now appreciates.

[MarshalN]

I always make sure I have something backed up before I jump into tourism.  My usual is setting up a cigar factory (it's cheap) and tobacco farms.  Gold isn't always available, lumber decreases your island's beauty, and rum factory is too dadgumed expensive.

That way you will always have money flowing in -- so when you have that first hotel and you don't have enough housing for your people, and somehow your hotels aren't filling up, you can at least make sure you have money to solve the problems.  I've found that jumping into tourism straight away can be very dangerous.  

Another problem is when you have a few good years, and the problems don't really show yet until you've spent all that cash on a luxury hotel, and all of a sudden people are without homes, you're starting to run low on food, and all your preists quit to become soldiers.  Then you're really screwed.....

[Egg]

  Umm actually i would no concur about jumping into tourism straight. I think the moment you have the right amount of money, say about $25k, then you should have 3 or 4 construction offices, build up all the tourism buildings you need immediately.

  Though there needs to be some preperation for the surge in immigrants to fill up the space, build some cheap housing and farms. This seems to be the only reason in which you were "screwed".

  One more thing, if you want to jump into tourism, you should not build a luxury hotel straight away. If you do not like the cheap hotels(Which i do not) I would strongly suggest building a medium hotel, or if you have too many unemployed, build a bunglow, they give more rating than a medium hotel and they have 1 maid for 1 couple. So if i have 30 of those, I would have 30 jobs for female tropicans. And besides, a rating of 70-80 is quite powerful, so i would reccomend charging the full rate of $50 a night...

  Oh sorry and before i forget, since you want to go into high class tourism, first you will need at least 4-6 counstruction offices. Since you already have a cigar factory as a back up, i would suggest that you save some money for a rum distillery or build another cigar factory. When you have a ton of money, about $100k then you should get the USA development edict. Get the powerplant and airport up first. Then use the rest on whatever high class tourism things you want to build.

[Peckering]

Have to agree with Egg here, i often take the attribute that gives me a free hotel and the outset, having built this i never have my normal money problems, though my maids are never happy, coz they are often the college educated females, and the job slots for them dont arrive untill much later on in the game.  (power plant, journalist).  Whereas male college grads can work in clinics etc.

[Egg]

  LOL, the free hotel thing is actually quite useless unless you're getting middle-class eco tourists....

[Peckering]

With the free hotel attribute, i often also take other tourism promoting attributes.  In all you end up with +70% tourism, which makes a hotel at the start great coz it fills up even in you're industrial district.  ie.next door to a lumber mill:)

[Egg]

  But if you did not put it in an industrial zone, you could choose other traits rather than to increase tourism and still get the same amount. Example.

 If i say that placing a hotel in an industrial zone makes tourism go down by 20%, i would have 50% more tourism (Like you said total 70% so -20%=50%)
If i placed that same hotel in a green area, i would receive 70%. What i would suggest is that you put it in a green area and get that 20% of tourism traits worth and trade it for another useful trait. I still get 50% in this sense.

[Peckering]

Good point.  My usual hotel positioning, certainly for cheap ones is to lever them in anywhere they will fit.  If i dont have clean land i put it in between power plants and lumber mills.  Under Flight paths is funny too.

[Egg]

  I like to charge my slob tourist $50 per night because their spending limit does not affect the amount they can pay to stay in the hotel. Only to attractions. And to me it does not seem to affect the tourism rating...

[the_neutron_bomb]

Speaking of tourists, they're the only people I can't eliminate or arrest THAT SUCKS!  I wish i could hold them for ransom (This was somone else's Idea.

"Trying to see our factories, mister tourist?  That'll be no problemo!  Just follow these men in army fatigues to that there prison- I mean photo center!  Sorry.  Enjoy your extended stay! (For six months!!)

[Egg]

  LOL jail is 7 years not 6 months, besides the US would probaly invade even if you could actually do that

[the_neutron_bomb]

It would only take them 6 months to find the ransom money.  Besides, I'll have russian diplomats there, so what will they be able to do?  They couldn't invade!  (I wish there was such a thing as diplomats in the game!)

[Egg]

  What ever for?

[the_neutron_bomb]

realism, of course

[Egg]

  That would make the game crash...

[the_neutron_bomb]

?

[MadMax]

Nice thought...I always pay my workers the following.....

Housing

Bunkhouse-1
Countryhouse-5
Tenement-3
Apartment-6
house-8
luxuryhouse-10

Industry

All-20 +5 if i put them on sweatshop

Humanservices

clinic-20
hospital-30
church-20
cathedral-30
highscholl-20
college-30
market place-15

Entertainent    Charge
     
pub-10                               5
nightclub-10                     10
restaurant-10                    5
gourmet restaurant-10    10
casino-10                         10
cabaret-10                       10
sportscomplex-20            20

Farms

corn-10
pineapple-15
coffee-15
sugar-15
tobacco-15
banana-10
papaya-10
fishing-15
cattle-15
goats-10
logging-15
iron-10
bauxite-10
gold-15

Tourism              Charge

cheap hotel-10        10
hotel-15                   20
luxuryhotel-20          30
bungalow-15            25
pool-10                     15
beachsite-10             15
spa-20                       30
souvenir shop-15       15
scenic outlook 10        10

I provide entertainment for tourists too but I build them specificaly for tourists and doubling the cost of the list above.(Got to milk'em for all there worth lol!)

Infrastructure

bank-25
construction office-10 +5 if i put them on sweatshop
teamster's office-10  +5 if i put them on sweatshop
dock-10 +5 if i dont have many
powerplant-30
airport-30

Government

guardstation-20 +5 if i increase there training
policestation-15 +5 if i increase there training
immigration office-20
newspaper-25
tv station-25
radio station-25
armoury-30 +5 if i increase there training
prison-20
ministry-20
palace-20 +5 if i increase there training

What do you think?

[LANlord]

I don't do nearly as much wage management as you, Max. Each class of worker gets paid the same, regardless of their place of employment. At the start of the game, I set uneducated to $6, HS to $12, and college-educated to $21 once the clinic's placed. Once the first election rolls-around, I'm generally well in the black so I issue another wage hike to $9/$15/$24. This increase puts my average wage just above the carribean average, I win the election handily and immigration begins to picks up substancially. Sometime between 1960-70, wages go up to $12/$18/$27 and this increase, given the influx of workers into positions requiring education, keeps me well above carribean avg. until the mid-90s. As the millenium draws near, I issue a final increase to $15/$21/$30 purely to increase happiness, and therefore, score.

[MadMax]

Ya I used to do the something similer 10 for grunts 20 for hs and 30 for college. But i never would change there income unless i was desperate.

[Marlow]

15 pesos per month for grunts??? Ooh, Mr.P is gonna be mad now...

[MadMax]

Whats wrong with 15 coins for grunts those happen to be resourses that go to factories so i make sure there always have there worker limit. Besides i milk exactly 1/3 of every tropicans pay from there rent so i technically am paying them 10 coins.(not counting couples)

[MadMax]

I don't do nearly as much wage management as you, Max. Each class of worker gets paid the same, regardless of their place of employment. At the start of the game, I set uneducated to $6, HS to $12, and college-educated to $21 once the clinic's placed. Once the first election rolls-around, I'm generally well in the black so I issue another wage hike to $9/$15/$24. This increase puts my average wage just above the carribean average, I win the election handily and immigration begins to picks up substancially. Sometime between 1960-70, wages go up to $12/$18/$27 and this increase, given the influx of workers into positions requiring education, keeps me well above carribean avg. until the mid-90s. As the millenium draws near, I issue a final increase to $15/$21/$30 purely to increase happiness, and therefore, score.

You do some more elaborate things with rents and entertainment  pricing. Have you ever experimented with pay scales? There have been a couple of threads about the differences between Communist scales and Capitalist scales.

Interesting I should try that on my next island. Thanks "the thing".