Secret Police Dossiers

[El_Politico]

While of course it would be wrong to keep secret files on people's political leanings and exercise of freedom of speech in a free country, in a restive dictatorship a little paranoia and use of the rename function go a long way in identifying targets for special measures and quickly reviewing your population for security risks as well as for those deserving special favors.  I got the idea from posts in this forum and was asked in an AAR thread how I do it, so here goes.

Renaming:  click on the name in most of the personal info displays and type a new name.  Being an unimaginative dictator, I almost always leave the name intact (if there is room) and add special characters to tag various attributes.  Thus by passing the mouse over characters on the map or in the lists I can more quickly focus my attention on the most deserving. I've boiled it down to basically the

+ = good attitude -- good politics, right mix of happiness factors, therefore unlikely to make trouble.  Good recruits for the army if they have low leadership.

- = bad attitude, may be due to politics, relatives, current circumstances regarding respect/happiness, or just a plain and dangerous love of liberty.  Disqualified from sensitive jobs such as the military or immigration (though safe enough in the police).  A methodical tyrant would probably start classifying everyone during childhood, but that seems too much like work rather than a game.

= = neutral classification, but I haven't used this one--again, not methodical enough.

w= watch.  They don't necessarily have a bad attitude, but bear watching in case they turn unhappy.  This can be due to who their relatives are (especially if relatives were arrested or worse), strong courage and leadership, political attitudes or a combination.  If they haven't protested, I usually check them for disgruntlement before moving on.

* = felony protest: except for those too important or well connected to be prosecuted (is this a realistic game or what?), or those for whom protect seems an aberration because they are starving etc., protestors get the asterisk.

I usually don't send them to jail on a first offense, but a protestor who already has an asterisk deserves special attention and a decision on whether to bribe, arrest, eliminate, declare heretic (if available), or let alone.  Brave leaders are a big threat, but young folks often just need a little re-education etc.

p = prisoner (marked for life).  Ex-cons who go bad again (protest) are subject to the 2 strikes and you're out rule.  I tried jailing soldiers and then rehiring them once their respect was high, but with mixed results in the following coups.

h= heretic (rarely used since not that compatible with a tinpot dictator approach)

L= loyal--awarded to soldiers who helped crush a coup, resulting in better treatment and stock options.

t = traitors--soldiers who protest, are fired for poor attitude, or join a coup.  Treatment varies.

v = VIPs, faction leaders and some bulwarks of the regime (e.g., the few strong supporters a dictator has).

hs = high school graduate who keeps taking manual jobs.

col = college graduate who takes inferior jobs--this is useful to chase them down and force them to live up to their responsbilities to the regime.

I hope this gives you some good ideas.

El Politico

[Mr.P]

Following El_Politico's good work, I also do the following:

Any and all rebels are tagged, but I do not keep original names. 'Rebel1', 'rebel2' etc. are used.

Links are then made to all family members, who are tagged 'mother of rebel4' or 'father-in-law of rebel2'.

It's amazing how many rebels/protesters stem from only a few family groups.

I also mentioned the above in a little more detail at ftp://http://www.cafetropico.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tropico&action=display&num=991685697

[Eddy]

Is there any way you can "encourage" a rebelliously inclined family to pack up and ship out without shooting them like rabid dogs?

[Kilgaard]

And what is wrong with shooting them all like rabid dogs?  

[Mr.P]

Hahaha, the ironic thing Eddy is that I had a soldier (coup member) state that he'd had enough and was leaving my blessed island.

Well, I was not about to have that happen. How dare he shoot at my Palace then casually walk off my island. Needless to say he and the family disappeared, but in an all-together different way from what they had planned.

Oh, quick tip. I prefer to have my prison complexes away from built up area's if possible. It is helpful to place a guard apost nearby to:

i) Aid in defending any rebel attack
ii) Allow you to dispense with a prisoner on release. When you see one of your soldiers heading for the guard post for orders release the prisoner and slap an 'Eliminate' Edict on his or her head. The soldier will pop into his post and then tends to come out guns blazing!  

[suedenim]

Ooh, I love the idea of having a remote prison complex with a nearby guard post!  I never thought of that, but it actually fits perfectly, and is accurate to boot!  Arrest a troublemaker, then he ends up being "shot attempting to escape."  Much quieter and less messy than gunning someone down in the middle of the street.

[Crandaddy]

Wow, this thread just shows me how many different levels this game works at.  I've just never been interested in micro managing people, I just worry about the economics of the game.  If I have a lot of unhappy people, I'll often just set the immigration office to "Love it or Leave it", and then try to keep people just happy enough that they don't leave or rebel (or really try to boost it if Happiness counts in the score).  But that's just me--I lose interest in tracking individual people through the game, and I think its great that the game works well at that level if you're interested.  Bravo, Pop Top!

That said, my rant for the day:  I get really, really sick of evicting my soldiers ten times in a row because they won't take the nice housing that's available right next to their guardpost that they can afford .  When a soldier is miserable because he lives in a bunkhouse and housing is important to him, why, why, why do I have to evict him from bunkhouses and tenements 10 times before he finally takes that pretty little house he can afford?  This is where my interest in the game starts to wane.  What does this have to do with the original post?  I guess it comes down to that people micro-managing theme.  I just had to get that off my chest.  Thanks for listening, I feel better now!  

[Dr._Cruel]

...I do so love this game...

[Mr.P]

Yup folks, I think that is why I love the game. Crandaddy can play the bigger picture, whilst those who want to get into Tropicans minds can also have a laugh! Great work indeed PopTop.  

Its unfortunate Suedenim that PopTop took out the secret police and spy character, as we would have had an absolute riot with them too!

[TinpotDictator]

I either send my protesters to jail (they eventually escape) or I have them killed.

It keeps them in line. Hehehe...

[calm_blue_sea]

I am definately going to give the remote jail/guard post a try.

Hey Mr. P, tell me more about the secret police and spy (and anything else cool that was ommitted). Inquiring minds want to know!

[calm_blue_sea]

Actually, I came up with a similar idea a while ago but have yet to try it out. My idea was to build a remote farm with a guard tower next door. The farm would not be operational though (the jobs would always be blocked off). Now picture our trouble maker suddenly, and without reason, being fired from his job. Incredibly, a high paying position would instantly open at the farm. "What luck" he would think to himself. "I hope everyone at my new job likes me" ...............

*insert evil laugh here*


Hmm, I think I'll give this a try right away!

[Coconut Kid]

Following El_Politico's good work, I also ...
It's amazing how many rebels/protesters stem from only a few family groups.
I also mentioned the above in a little more detail at http://www.cafetropico.obsolete link which I can't translate

After an hour or so searching, I rediscovered the post mentioned. The thread title is Keeping it in the family, and it's here:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=2893.msg54058#msg54058


El Politico's system of renaming is an elaboration on my contention that the player is his\her own "secret police" because the game makes all the dossier information available -- all that is necessary is to pause and look at it. One must remember that the NPCs are not human with the ability to plan ahead.

hs = high school graduate who keeps taking manual jobs.
col = college graduate who takes inferior jobs--this is useful to chase them down and force them to live up to their responsbilities to the regime.

I caution against this attitude. We now know that strong faction support may overcome other job attractions if they conflict with the faction associations of the jobs.