Cafe Tropico Game Guide

[Coconut Kid]

From flagator_ - zero out support from faction:

CheckFrequencyMonthBegin  ;you shouldn't have to do this more than once a month, tops
LoopThroughAllUnits
Condition UnitUIFactionSupportCapitalist > 0
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable1 UnitUIFactionSupportCapitalist
GeneralEffect MultiplyBy EventVariable1 -1
GeneralEffect AddTo UnitUIFactionSupportCapitalist EventVariable1   ;the effect of these three is to set support to 0
MessageTypeLowerRight
MessageText "[UNIT_NAME] has had their subversive capitalist tendencies squashed."

Should work for any faction by substitution of the appropriate operators.
It has been described in later posts that the program will modify a unit to be faction leader for any faction which is otherwise eliminated by script.

[Coconut Kid]

From Kendahlj on Individual Unit Manipulation (05/01):

I broke down and emailed Poptop about event scripting and unit manipulation.  Phil wrote me back and told me that the way the editor is set up now it doesn't allow for manipulating units. There's a lot of capacity to check for things, but not a lot of capacity to force certain actions. Basically the event scripting has just enough so that they were able to add their scripts for the scenarios that came with the game.  He did say that it is possible that may add some of those things in the next patch, that it wouldn't be too hard to extend it to do a lot more stuff, but it was a big MAYBE.

I added the underline. I think that we now know that the big maybe turned out to be a big negatory.    So the challenge to scriptors is to learn the limitations of the special scripting "language" and to devise interesting scenarios within those limitations.

[Coconut Kid]

Using the true/false report:

Cafe Dave: The [TRIGGER_TF] text replacement code is only for giving you a "True" or "False" text in your message depending on the value of the trigger value checked.  For example, say you had a message event like:

2a.evt
CheckFrequencyAlmanacScore
LoopThroughAllBuildings

Condition BldgType = BldgTypeRadioStation

MessageTypeSpecial
MessageText "The rumor is [TRIGGER_TF] that Tropico now has a radio station."

And the word True or False will be substituted depending on the condition

It is possible also that the almanac event may not like doing a loop through buildings.

Che_Miguel: I'm quite sure you can NOT loop through anything at the almanac page (units and buildings, of course).
Did you know that in the end, when you write an event with GeneralEffect GameWon (or GameLost) you must NOT write the line MessageTypeDossier?
If you do, the almanac page with the win or lose message pops up twice. So in a GameWon or Lost event simply write MessageText = "..."
GameWon / GameLost seems to imply MessageTypeDossier.

[Coconut Kid]

Ensure Briefing Appears and Setup.evt Runs:

CafeDave: There are two critical things you MUST do to make sure briefings appear:

1. Make sure that the Editor is turned ON when you save the game map to use as the scenario map.  Be sure to check by hitting the Z key, which will bring up the bulldozer tool if the editor is on.  Then save the game.  You should see a message that the game is regenerating the map settings and this will reset the flag to bring up the briefing.

2.  I discovered recently that you MUST NOT have the command ExecuteOnlyOnce within a briefing event or an event called by a briefing.  This will kill the whole briefing, but seems to be intermittent, i.e. sometimes it will, sometimes it won't.  But best not to use it anyway.  A briefing will only occur at the start of the game so you don't need this anyway.  Incidentally, if you want to see a briefing again, turn on the editor, and it will pop up at the start of the year unless the briefing event has a time condition. A time condition to use if desired is Condition Year=1950 .

Lord_Corwin: Why you should PAUSE your map when you create it. If you have looked at the events that came with the maps that shipped with Tropico, you may be familiar with one called setup.evt.

This event is supposed to run at the very beginning of an episode to set rainfall conditions or to give free buildings and such.  This event will only run DURING JANUARY 1950. If you let your map progress into February then you will not be able to use an event called setup.

Poptop Brent: Regarding the setup.evt. I was looking through the code a couple days ago at this, and I don't think it is date dependent. There is a flag that is set once it is run. In a normal game, this flag is set on Jan. 1, 1950 which means any map you create, this flag will have already been tripped.

Therefore, it is *very important* when you are creating maps, to make sure you do your final save with the editor mode turned ON. One of the things that happens in this case (you get some message that it is recalculating stuff and it is a longer save) is that that flag is reset to false so that the setup.evt will be run when someone plays the scenario.

[Coconut Kid]

Changing Faction Support:

flagator_: UnitUIFactionSupportReligion is a numeric amount -- a percentage. 0-24 are detractors, 25-49 are Religious+, 50-74 are Religious++ and 75-99 are Religious+++.

Here's how to do it:
-- First event as is.
-- Test1.evt:
CheckFrequencyOnlyWhenCalled
LoopThroughAllUnits    {you need this or else it will only affect the first Tropican it finds}
Condition UnitUIFactionSupportReligion >= 25   {note: this will catch anyone who has Religious+ support or better}
GeneralEffect AddTo GroupVariable1 1
GeneralEffect AddTo UnitUIFactionSupportReligion 25    {this will add a + to the Religious support of anyone flagged by the condition}
MessageTypeBottomRight
MessageText "[UNIT_NAME] supports the Religious faction."
--------------------------------------
--Event Test1a:
CheckFrequencyMonthBegin    {I'd use this instead of weekbegin, because if you have a lot of Tropicans it may take longer than a week to run through them all}
ExecuteOnlyOnce
Condition GroupVariable1 > 0
MessageTypeDossier
MessageText "[TRIGGER_GROUP_VARIABLE_1] Tropicans support the Religious faction."

If what you want to do instead is to get people to join the Religious faction, make your test for people whose support is <=25, and add to their support instead. Then your final variable would count people who have joined the faction.

This would have the result of making *everyone* on the island a Religious supporter though... if instead you added less than 25 to every Tropican's support, some few would remain less than 25... more realistic, but then you'd have to add extra code to figure out how many got just enough to give them Religious+ and join the supporters. Not worth it in my book.

If what you want to do instead is to get people to join the Religious faction, make your test for people whose support is <=25, and add to their support instead. Then your final variable would count people who have joined the faction.

This would have the result of making *everyone* on the island a Religious supporter though... if instead you added less than 25 to every Tropican's support, some few would remain less than 25... more realistic, but then you'd have to add extra code to figure out how many got just enough to give them Religious+ and join the supporters. Not worth it in my book.

Mercator: I messed around a bit with UnitUISuppression.  When you give it a negative number (can't remember how big I gave it, I think 100) it forced everybody to get back to work.  Everyone on the island said "Ugh, back to the grind!".

So its kinda a forced labor thing.  If you suppress the people enough, you'll make them work harder.  If you lighen up, you'll most likely give them more free reign to do other things besides work.

[Coconut Kid]

El_Coronel's commentary on learning "Tropico Script" is a good read for experienced programmers.

http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=5831.0

And a second discussion between El_Coronel and Senor Ruina is a good read.

http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=5837.0

[Coconut Kid]

From Junta_Joe:

I have a theory about those older children.  They don't switch avatars until they are finished with their current "needs" and go back to sleep.  They seems to need a certain amount of play time in addition to food, religion, medical, and sleep.  When they finally need sleep and make it back to their lodgings their avatars will change.  Yet it can take years to do this.

[Coconut Kid]

Almanac Score Page Column Headings.

rockon084: In the default almanac score page there are raw and score column headings.
Can anyone help out as to how you set this up such that when the length of a raw or score value changes, it does not 'shift' the other on that row?

CafeDave: There are codes similar to the color codes for horizontal justification.  These are [hjr] - right justify, [hjc] - center, [hjl] - left justify.  To cancel a setting, put in an [hjl] to go back to normal justification or surround what you want to justify in {} brackets.  There must be special codes that the almanac uses to right justify a column that is not at the right hand side but I do not know what they are.

Here's an example that will put the value first then the units on the right.  It appears you need an [hjl] before using an [hjr] or the whole line is right justified.  The left column will still shift to the right as the numbers get longer but will not affect the right column.

CheckFrequencyAlmanacScore
AlwaysTrue

GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable1 LTDGSExportValueCorn
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable2 LTDGSExportUnitsCorn
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable3 LTDGSExportValueFish
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable4 LTDGSExportUnitsFish

MessageTypeSpecial
MessageText "El Presidente, here are your export results:\n\n[c50][hjl]Corn Value:   [TRIGGER_MONEY_EVENT_VARIABLE_1]  [hjr]Corn Units:   [TRIGGER_EVENT_VARIABLE_2]\n[hjl]Fish Value:   [TRIGGER_MONEY_EVENT_VARIABLE_3]  [hjr]Fish Units:   [TRIGGER_EVENT_VARIABLE_4][hjl]\n\n[c34]Your deadline is January 1, 2000."

Eureka!  I couldn't leave this alone, so I did some testing and it can be done!  The hj codes allow overlaps, so if you put an [hjr] for a centre column with spaces at the end, then another [hjr] with no spaces, you get two nicely aligned columns.

Here's an example event with a 15 space blank at the end of the first column:

CheckFrequencyAlmanacScore
AlwaysTrue

GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable1 GSExportValueCorn
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable2 LTDGSExportValueCorn
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable3 GSExportValueCoffee
GeneralEffect SetTo EventVariable4 LTDGSExportValueCoffee

MessageTypeSpecial
MessageText "El Presidente, here are your export results:\n\n[hjl][u1]Commodity[hjr]This Year               [hjr]Lifetime[u0]\n\n[hjl]Corn:[hjr][TRIGGER_MONEY_EVENT_VARIABLE_1]               [hjr][TRIGGER_MONEY_EVENT_VARIABLE_2]\n[hjl]Coffee:[hjr][TRIGGER_MONEY_EVENT_VARIABLE_3]               [hjr][TRIGGER_MONEY_EVENT_VARIABLE_4]\n\n[hjl]Your deadline is January 1, 2000."

The underline codes are [u1] to turn it on and [u0] to turn off.  Colour codes are [c#] with number from 0 to 100 or more.  I also found a code in the exe file for [n0] and [n1] but not sure what it does.  There is a [pagebreak] code used too but it crashes the game.  Senor Ruina originally documented these in the Undocumented Dossier Secrets Revealed thread.

[Coconut Kid]

I think I have gathered about as much as I can to contribute to the project.

I can't really can't do much more. I probably did not recognize some important messages, and probably included some unimportant messages. I hope there is now a body of information more available for inclusion into an edited Game Guide.

While the "Owners" don't care about this OLD game, it remains one of the most playable classics of the less bloody (sort of family "friendly") "builder" games. I hope Cafe Dave has made hard copy of the material so that he can exercise his copyright on "new" discoveries.

Regards 

Oh my! I have learned a bit more about the content of the "Archives" board. It is not just old Nightclub stuff. So I have to go on reading old files.

[Coffeebean]

Good work CK.
I haven't seen Mr P around for some time. I hope he's OK and will drop in soon to do the next stage of the project.

[Coconut Kid]

From MadamPresident:

Here are some hints about factories that might help.

Basically you should have enough raw material for the factory to work with. Two sources of raw material per factory is generally a good guideline. The exception is the lumber mill, it can manage on one logging camp with the improvements implemented.

Don't expect to make any profit the first few years after you build a factory. Plus, you will take a hit in your exports because the raw material will no longer be exported. It takes a while before the factories start producing.

Implement any improvments you can to  the factory. They will speed up production.

If you have an airport and foreign ministry, you should try to send trade delegations frequently to increase the prices of your finished goods.

The industrial advertisement edict which you can use once you have a television station raises your export prices for a short while. This also helps.

Lastly, make sure that your factory workers live and can get food & recreation close to the factory. The factory will produce as much as one worker's output when there are no workers in it, but the more the workers actually there, the better the production.

[Coconut Kid]

From Chairman R0bb0 on 02/04/05:

If you want to provide 'feedback' to Poptop, then you can try the contact email on their website (webmaster@poptop.com) or try contacting Franz Felsl (franz@poptop.com).


PopTop is long gone.   

[Coconut Kid]

It looks as if there are a lot more threads with real game content in the "Archives." So "Hi-Ho, back to mining I go."

http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=2961.0

From JZ_Temple and John-SJ.

This thread has some very useful information on the exclusions/incompatabilities of the Dictator Traits (although each of us could build our own list).

John-SJ: The full list of exclusions that I am aware of is:

  Trait                  Exclusion
---------------------------------------
Family Values       Alcoholic
Charismatic          Ugly
Diplomat              Flatulence
Diplomat              Moronic
Diplomat              Tourette's Syndrome
Incorruptible         Kleptomaniac
Incorruptible         Compulsive Liar
Scholarly              Moronic

Ribaldo: Here are the other exclusions I've been able to find.  I think this is pretty comprehensive :

Condition                Exclusion

Female Presidente        Womanizer
Moscow U.                    Capitalist Rebellion
Moscow U.                    Installed by CIA
Harvard U.                   Communist Rebellion
Harvard U.                   Installed by KGB
Biblical Scholar             Elected Fascist
Biblical Scholar             Military Coup
Booze Baron                Family Values
Booze Baron                Religious Appointment
Leftist Author               Capitalist Rebellion
Administrator               Moronic
Generalissimo              Coward
Military Coup               Coward

Note that you can be a moron with an Ivy League education and end up running a country.¹
Note also that you can be a Pop Singer with Tourette's Syndrome, though technically this profile is Rap Artist.

 

It appears that the download link for the "program" still works. I did not download it because I do not have VB on my machine. Perhaps Brf or Weeds could check it out. Obiviously if working, it needs to be updated to include PI stuff.

In any case, such a program might provide those who are bored with the lack of challenging scenarios with a different approach to "random games/maps."

¹Please do NOT spin this out into political commentary. There are lots of U.S. Presidents who fit this profile, sad to say.

[s_stabeler]

i have PI asnd i can't see the female presedfante option, not that i woyld use it, but that might bea problem

[Coconut Kid]

Perhaps this is what you tried to say, "I have PI and I can't see the female presidente option, not that I would use it, but that might be a problem."

There is NO female presidente option whether PI or otherwise.

When you start A RAMDOM MAP SETUP, you come to PRESIDENTE SETUP. The program provides a number of dossiers of possible reflections of you as the player. The game has a minor theme of "role playing" the dictator in control of the Tropico Island. As you scroll through the dossiers, you will see that some of the pictures are of WOMEN. If you use one of these dossiers, then you will be a female dictator. These dossiers have been provided by the game designers so that female players may be comfortable with the gender of the dictator in their games. There is NO option to make just any dictator either male or female.

[Coconut Kid]

Running a Cannery for profit (and other related things):

From flagator_ http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=2886.0

Like any other industry, to make a cannery turn a profit, it must be:

--Supplied
--Staffed
--Serviced

Supplied: You must have enough raw materials coming in to it. One supply source (fish dock, pineapple grove or coffee plantation) is not sufficient, especially when you're talking about fish or pineapple, because those are also popular as food for your people. If your people are eating all the dock produces, there will be no surplus to can. Build several fish docks spaced around the coast to ensure enough to keep the cannery busy.

Staffed: Obviously a factory can't work without workers. Factories take educated workers so you need to import them, educate them or lure them with an immigration office set to Skilled Workers Welcome. If you have workers, make sure they live close to work and have amenities such as pub, marketplace, clinic and church near their homes, so they don't walk all over the map and spend more time at work.

Serviced: Industrial products don't earn you a dime until they are put on the boat. As a rule of thumb you should have one Teamster per building that produces something to be carried. So if you have five farms, two mines and two industries, think about building a second teamster office, preferably near the source of raw materials. (The first one is usually inconveniently located.) Also keep an eye on your docks' output store. If it's generally lower than your factories' output store, you need more teamsters. On the other hand, if it's consistently 20 or more, you need another dock, preferably closer to your industrial center.

From calm_blue_sea (same thread):

What flagator said. The most important thing is having surplus resource production (especially in the case of farms, as individual farm production fluctuates greatly year to year). Also, make sure your wharfs are placed next to good fishing waters. Put a market place or farm nearby if you have to so that your people don't gobble up all the fish on the spot.

Also, it takes awhile for the workers to gain experience and factories don't do well immediately for this reason. Endeavor to keep the factory workers at the factory - if you have a high staff turnover they will never become experienced (ie it's a good idea to set your factory pay relatively high so they don't seek greener pastures). Also, upgrade as soon as you can afford it.

From AHO on 06/06/01 (same thread):

I agree with what others have said about industries, and I would add that productivity, as well as the speed at which you realize your earnings, also depends on where your workers live.  They don't work very long if they have to walk miles and miles to work.  You won't see a profit until 1)  a teamster brings the raw goods to your cannery--seen as input items when you click on the factory, 2) your workers convert the raw materials into finished product--seen as output in the factory, 3) a teamster picks up your finished product,  4) the teamster drops the product off at the dock--seen by looking closely at the dock, and finally, 5) a dockworker takes it to the ship.  So you got to make sure you have lots of teamsters to deliver all your goods, and you need to try to get your dockworkers to live close to dock so they'll actually do some loading!  There's nothing more frustrating than to know that you have $150,000 worth of product sitting on the dock but there's not a single dock worker in sight!

Rotating Crops 06/06/01 From calm_blue_sea:
I used to rotate crops, but I usually don't bother now. Often by the time the new crop begins to grow, the conditions have changed again. Now I generally build lots of farms is areas that are good on average and then ride out the dry spells (if you place the farms correctly there will always be a few in the green). Also, use the AVERAGE soil moisture and soil quality maps in conjunction with the crop map when planning your farms. The description for each crop tells you what to look for (ie some crops prefer high moisture content).  Taking everything into consideration (instead of just the current crop conditions) helps in selecting more stable locations. Keep in mind that current conditions are largely determined by the path of the last cloud.

Several from Reignking:
1st: Yes, I overload on teamsters now.  I put one or two by the farms.  I put one right between the cannery and the dock (essential, IMO).  I slap down some bunkhouses so that they (teamsters and dockworkers) can all live nearby. 2nd: Question: does room for the farm to grow on impact the supply?  For example, if the farms are too close, do they cannabalize each other, and each produce less than they could? AHO: "I've seen that happen, especially with banana farms.  I've noticed that the farmers will plant their crops in the most conducive (the greenest) area, even if it encroaches into another farm."

From bugsyboff77: I have found if you place a teamsters buildings between the factories and the farms in a * (star) sort of shape you will have very little product waiting anywhere.  My inputs are always low and my outputs are always low. The teamsters aren't a maintenance beast so you can easily add the facility.  I usually limit the teamsters to 6.

flagator may have been just a bit short in his estimate of Teamsters in the lead paragraph.

[Coconut Kid]

Correcting (or just changing) written messages generated by the game - Go to the data2 directory and open Tropico.lng ...

From CafeDave:  http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=2877.0

[Brf]

From Diego_de_la_Vega:

I've begun to notice that the number one killer of soldiers on my Island is rebel stress.

Once your soldiers go after the rebels, they will ignore everything else until all the rebels are dead. When I was building my Snake Island scenerio, early on I had a big problem with pathing. One game, the rebels tried to attack one of the farms, but never made it there.... All of the soldiers milled about the farm for years, looking for the rebels... Several of them died for various reasons.... I will have to see if I can dredge up the post I made on that.....

[Brf]

I was not talking about hospitals. I was talking about "rebel stress" that was mentioned by the poster you were quoting. I was stating that soldiers will ignore everything when they are after the rebels.... forgettting to eat, rest, visit the doctor, etc. Therefore the soldiers will often drop dead while they are trying to fight.

Ah! Here is the thread: http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=6599.0
The soldiers milled about for over ten years, and several of them starved to death.

[Brf]

No. As I explained in the post I referenced, the Rebel got lost because of the terrain and never found his way to the target. The soldiers, on the other hand, were right there and waited ten years for the rebel to arrive.

Apparently, the soldiers will ignore all their other needs while they are fighting... starving to death, or dying from not visiting the doctor the whole time.

This is not indicative of a corrupt gamefile, but rather the do-or-die programming of the soldiers.

[Coconut Kid]

littleraven (~05/01):

Occasionally, as I watch over my enlightened populace, I hear the death rattle¹ of a departing citizen. (or Yanqui dog, I suppose) However, I often cannot locate said citizen to discover why they passed on. The Almanac gives me how many people died, but not who they were or why they gave up the ghost. What is the best way to track down my dear and departed?

Chris:

Go into the almanac, click on wages, if anybody who is not homelessunemployed, a mother, retired, or a child but has zero pay is, well, dead. Click on that person, and then click the "magic eight ball" to center on them.

¹ Possibly also a sharp eye noticing a down tick in the population total.

Depending on economic circumstances, there may be a few false leads, and the non-workers may need to be checked. Of course, one also has to remember that there is a relatively short time before the invisible undertaker cleans the place up.

[Coconut Kid]

From Blackrook:

On 5/25/01 I wrote to Poptop Dave the following email: "... Thanks for responding to my last post about the missing "mother" link.  I am very fond of this character but disappointed that she seems so underused in Tropico.  When the game starts, most of the women are "mothers" but then they all get jobs and after that there's hardly any "mothers" at all.  Was this a deliberate design decision? ...
Thomas Larmore (Blackrook)"

On 5/28/01, David responded:

The mother was designed from the start to be a state a female takes when she is pregnant, not a long-term career choice.  This was done basically for gameplay and balance reasons, not political or social ones.  In fact, one coworker's wife is a stay-at-home mother who gave up a legal career in return for the chance to raise her children.  If my wife and I have children, I wll most likely be a stay-at-home Dad.  No, the choice in the game was simply one concerned with game mechanics and the idea of it carrying a political overtone escaped us.  Because of memory, space, and time requirements, we could not make all jobs available to both males and females on Tropico, so we had to divide them in as appropriately as we could.  As a result, there are plenty of jobs in which the players simply needs females.  If a large portion of the female population spent half their lives as mothers, it would simply cripple the player in a way that real-world stay-at-home moms don't.  In the real world, if you are low on journalists or cooks, you can pull from the entire population.  In Tropico, you only have the female side.

  Well now we know. They lay-off for ~ (more or less) 9 months and then it's immediately "Hi Ho, back to work I go." I think it should be at least 18 months from when pregnancy strikes. Additionally, we probably have an imperfect idea of how long pregnancy lasts on Tropico. When a female has the thought, "I'm going to have a baby" (I think that's what it is) - who knows what the time-line relationship to conception is. And there is always the delay in changing avatars until the unit is in a building. So actually seeing the Mother avatar is fairly rare with only a nine month window.

[Brf]

Bah.... When I played the Tiniest-Isle, Eve had 4 children, but wore the "Mother" icon for only two months. I have noticed this is other games too, a lot of times the Mothers will just switch jobs when they have a baby, without ever wearing the Mother Icon.

[Coconut Kid]

From Toby:

"One word of caution though - When the population reaches 800 - 1,000, even with a respect of about 65% and a happiness of 60-65%, and when the election rolls round and the opposing candidate is announced, for a brief moment you can see the true voting intent in the Circle Window. Once you close the candidate box, a new voting intent magically changes the 2/1 in favour of you to (on average) a 4/1 to 3/1 against.

Sad to say that I use 'Contento' once at each election because of this 'bug'. I do remember that POPTOP removed the 500 population cap and were unsure as to what would happen to the game beyond that limit ; this seems to be one of the side affects!"

[Coconut Kid]

From Mr.P:

In a moment of desperation, after having 12 rebels on my island, I decided to keep tabs on all rebels and their families; to see whether such behaviour runs in the genes.

I tagged (renamed) all relatives (including all extended family which wasn't as difficult as I thought), linking them to a rebel. e.g. 'Brother-in-Law of Rebel 2', 'Son of rebel 6', etc.

I found that many of the adult family members tended to remain within society, except for 1 who joined towards the end of my 10-yr test run. This I believe was more to do with the fact I fired him 3 times in order to more to the job I had allocated for him.

However, I found that a relatively large number (4) of children grew up to become rebels, normally around the student age. This would tend to fit in with the happiness of most of my students, which always tends to be low. It seemed to me, at least from this test run, that a relative of a rebel is more likely to rebel themselves.