Military buildup?

[MrManganese]

The leader of the militarist faction seems to think we'll come under attack from chimpanzees, and we'll be caught totally unprepared. Please, can anyone tell me when these chimpanzees will attack? How much of a military force do I need to fight them off?

[Brf]

You should have one soldier per 50 population early on. Then when you get to 200, you need a general. The general can take the place of the 4th soldier. I am not sure how many they require once you get over 200.

[MrManganese]

Thanks guys :-)

[Severous]

Only one general  ....we can take him...where is he...

[MrManganese]

AHHH!!!   They took us totally off guard! I guess Tropico is Island of the Apes now

[Pinstar]

In most games I'll do the full 3 general armory and 3 guard posts, even if I have no fear of rebels. I figure they're just like police with the sensitivity training anyway and it keeps the faction happy

[Luis Paz]

Hi everyone.

I thought I'd try to rule as a religious pacifist, with no military whatsoever, and see what happens.

At the start, I had two palace guards. First thing, I blocked the two remaining slots.
As soon as my first church was built, I fired both palace guards, who dutifully changed their profession to priest; and blocked all the slots for palace guards.

I kept the wages at the palace high.

The leader of the Militarist faction has been keeping complaining, but they never ran off to the jungle (25 years in). Overall happiness is high, since I've been making sure to provide all the services people could possibly want.

I've relied on farming at the start, and never industrialized or mined, to keep the Environmentalists happy.
Afterwards, tourists; and now I am realizing that a highly-educated class of journalists is essentially paying for itself AND making a profit AND raising entertainment and liberty ratings.

So far, having zero soldiers has not been a problem, at all.

Has anyone else ever tried to go down this path?

[belbincolne]

Unless it's clearly a militarist scenario I always keep to two palace guards (ie the ones usually there at the start of the game) and check their other interests.  Then when I can afford a church (or whatever) if things are peaceful I fire any religious soldiers - and all if I've got a factory needing staffing.

Rebels rarely come early in the game so by the time (if) they do you can afford to buy in soldiers - or fire ex soldiers from priesthood etc. Many (possibly a majority) of the scenarios can be won without having any soldiers at all Normally by this time I've got an Immigration Office set to Educated Welcome so I've (hopefully) got people to hand anyway. No soldiers (or police) gives you a real high "Freedom" rating as well.

One other thing - if you have reason to suspect that your soldiers aren't happy (ie you've had a warning message) FIRE THEM if you have to fix an election - that's the time they most often revolt themselves. Leave yourself with no soldiers for a year then re-open slots if necessary.

Secondly - DONT BLAME ME - if this advise proves totally wrong - as has been said many times the beauty of Tropico is that games never play the same way twice so you have to stay constantly alert and innovative.  

[Captain Carrrghter]

I don't like large militaries either. They lead to the following vicious cycle, in my experience.

Hire more soldiers
More money into soldiers' salaries and housing.
Less money for developing the economy.
Intellectuals emigrate due to lack of liberty, further crippling the economy.
Slow economy: can't build entertainment and social services.
People become unhappy.
Elections postponed, as the Presidente doesn't want to lose.
Liberty drops even further, and people become even more unhappy.
People become rebels.
Need to hire even MORE soldiers, and the cycle repeats.

[Privateer0]

Intellectuals emigrate due to lack of liberty, further crippling the economy.

Emigrate?! And you call yourself a dictator?! Execute all Immigration Office workers and replace them with new ones. Make sure they understand what happens to them if they allow any more damage to your wonderful state by allowing key people to leave it.

As for the economy, you just have to live within your means even with the military. Unless your difficulty is very high, you should be able to afford a decent military without overloading your economy.

[Severous]

Hi

Firstly welcome Luis Paz.  Keep dropping in and posting.

From your posts:

making sure to provide all the services people could possibly want

Yes - keep most high and others can go to pot with less impact.

blocked all the slots for palace guards

'Guns or Butter' - a trade off between economic development or military.  Im with you on that.

I kept the wages at the palace high

even without any soldiers ?  Does keeping wages high  in a building with all job slots closed have any positive impact on your game ?  If it does it sounds like something I like  

Privateer

Immigration Office workers

Thats what I meant to build in my only recent Trop1 game. I wanted it to influence captive citizen flows onto and not off the island.  I remembered liking that building a lot.  Instead I built the wrong one - diplomatic ministry. Nice ladies in blue suits but not a lot of good in bringing in workers.

[Privateer0]

Yes. Actually, the Immigration Office on my islands gets planned for construction on day 1 from the initial 10,000. It's fairly inexpensive and its effects can be very beneficial. I set it to Skilled Workers in all cases for at least the first 5 years or so. Then, if I plan on being an oppressive dictator, I set it to prevent emmigration, otherwise, I keep it on Skilled Workers and try my hardest to appease the middle and upper classes that have education. This way, even after my rapid expansion is complete, the people leaving my island are mostly uneducated, while the people coming to replace them are 30+% educated.

[Brf]

I kept the wages at the palace high

even without any soldiers ?  Does keeping wages high  in a building with all job slots closed have any positive impact on your game ?  If it does it sounds like something I like  

No. The wages at an empty building has no effect. What matters is the actual wages that are paid to individuals.

Try firing all your soldiers and leave the wages on the palace high. If you jump to the militarist page you will notice a complaint that the military has low wages.... that is because you now have some solders walking around who are getting paid zero, or whatever their wage is at their new job before their avatar changes to their new low pay occupation.

[Severous]

Would a soldier 'coup' whilst in this in between state ? Fired from being a soldier yet not yet changed to new job clothing.  Now has negatives to satisfaction from job change, lower pay, job he doesnt like, job not fitting his education, maybe homeless as he cannot afford the rent anymore.....now why would anyone coup under those conditions.      Sounds like a high risk time.

[Brf]

Yes. A soldier can still coup you if he has been fired and hasnt changed to a new avatar yet.

[Luis Paz]

Thank y'all for your comments!
I'm glad I'm not the only pacifist here.  

The reason I kept the wages high at the palace was that I thought there might be a chance this appeases the militarists. Guess I don't have to do that.

My militarist faction felt reasonably good about me during the game in which I fired all the soldiers, but that might have been caused by the high personal happiness level of the faction leader.

[Clever duck]

So far, having zero soldiers has not been a problem, at all.

Has anyone else ever tried to go down this path?

  I use this strategy in every scenario (except "Relations" where the US or Russia land soldiers,  who appear as rebels),  blocking all soldier slots while keeping their wages high.  Saves on wages,  high school educated workers,  and loss of liberty.

  When I used soldiers,  the militarists always complained there were not enough.  A little of the Soldado del Fortuna newspaper keeps them happy - zero soldiers seems to be as good as "not enough" soldiers.

[rakovsky]

Is the Chimp Rebellion feature real, or are you gus just joking?

[Coconut Kid]

@ rakovsky

#1: Please note the two (2) year gap in the dates of the posts.

#2: There is an "advisor" comment which mentions something about the Military Faction complaining that the army could not fight off a Chimpanzee let alone Rebels. It comes when there are no soldiers or only one or two. No chimpanzee ever appears. Those guys were just swanning around ; but they haven't been around for quite awhile to answer you.

 

[Coconut Kid]

Yes. A soldier can still coup you if he has been fired and hasnt changed to a new avatar yet.

I'm sorry, but I must disagree. The impact of the current avatar is a lot more complicated than previously thought when considering the newer findings about "Modes" and when they change. After the unit has vacated (by being fired) the employment slot of soldier\general, he no longer acts as one no matter how long it takes to change avatars will complete his current mode (work mode will be truncated) and then look for a job. He will find one or go home to change to the Unemployed avatar. If you look at his new employment building, you will see a soldier\general in the employment slot there. He has to enter either his new employment building or his home where the avatar will change. Meanwhile, he reacts like his new avatar - except the Almanac sorts him by the avatar he is wearing for some purposes.

If you have no army employees, there will be a complaint about low wages because the program looks only at what is being paid - not what is on offer for vacant positions.

The relationship between "Modes" and avatars is especially confusing when the unit needs to change from the Child avatar to an adult avatar. It may be there is a special "sub-mode" when the unit needs to change avatars.


Important link:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=11551.0