Does Tropico 4 ever get hard?

steveg700 · 02-28-2012, 01:22 PM

I'm on mission 4 (IMPORTant Business). I'm totally hooked, missed lots of sleep playing. Even nodded off a little while typing this post.

But a realization is starting to sink in: now that I've started to grasp a few mechanics that weren't well-explained, it seems unlikely that I'll lose any elections and rebels are non-existant. Other than the consistent effort to build, there's not much a struggle going on. I have all these nice, evil things I can do (bribe, kill, arrest, arrange accidents), but no real need to be ruthless. I haven't really had any enemies in the factions. Heck, I wouldn't even know when I am running low on palace guards if it weren't for the military faction showing up to tell me so. For now, it's fun that there's always new stuff to acquire and build, but eventually the fact that cash cows come so easily, and the unlikely of real opposition, is going to sink in and kill the fun.

The only thing that seems to throw a wrench in the works are disasters, and they're implemented in a shoddy fashion. They're not an enemy that I can push back against, instead they just smash some cheaper buildings and then go away (except for the occasional tornado that wants to hang around for 4 months).

Do the missions actually get harder, or it just a non-stop money bath?

I'm not asking to have any major spoilers posted. I really, really would prefer no major spoilers. Just a broad indicator that I'm being pampered by these early missions, and there'll be some real action on the islands.

Niscimble · 02-28-2012, 03:57 PM

There are a couple missions that I had to start a second time due to some unlucky moves, but otherwise it's not too bad. The last mission is nuts, though. Still haven't beaten it.

SapphireBullets · 02-29-2012, 12:42 AM

It is fairly easy, in that once you get established money flows in pretty easily and factions are relatively easy to please, though that seems true of most sim games.

You can make things trickier by selecting non-ideal traits (I'm doing that on my second playthrough) and in sandbox you can adjust the settings so you've got a bigger challenge but mostly the endgame involves seeing just how large and happy you can make your little island.

steveg700 · 02-29-2012, 04:27 AM

Yeah, it seems like once some revenue streams are set up, then you're good to go. I was hoping that the missions themselves would force the player to make tough cuts. Maybe when you do really well, the island becoems a tempting target for outsiders.

It seems that disasters are the only things the developers threw in to make things difficult, and like I said they are implemeneted in a pretty lousy way.

SapphireBullets · 02-29-2012, 05:45 AM

Some of the missions throw interesting curveballs at you, like one where you've guaranteed to jarate off a whole lot of factions.

For fan-challenges, "Isle of the Ancient Tropincas" provides an interesting challenge throughout in that your ability to build certain buildings is limited by the fact they reduce your coveted "Historical Authenticity" rating.

Swixel · 02-29-2012, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SapphireBullets

You can make things trickier by selecting non-ideal traits.

Go go Flatulent, Klepto, Womaniser.

You can set up some pretty impressive negatives with the background and rise to power too...

02-28-2012, 01:22 PM	#1
steveg700 Join Date: Sep 2010 Reputation: 9 Posts: 259	Does Tropico 4 ever get hard? I'm on mission 4 (IMPORTant Business). I'm totally hooked, missed lots of sleep playing. Even nodded off a little while typing this post. But a realization is starting to sink in: now that I've started to grasp a few mechanics that weren't well-explained, it seems unlikely that I'll lose any elections and rebels are non-existant. Other than the consistent effort to build, there's not much a struggle going on. I have all these nice, evil things I can do (bribe, kill, arrest, arrange accidents), but no real need to be ruthless. I haven't really had any enemies in the factions. Heck, I wouldn't even know when I am running low on palace guards if it weren't for the military faction showing up to tell me so. For now, it's fun that there's always new stuff to acquire and build, but eventually the fact that cash cows come so easily, and the unlikely of real opposition, is going to sink in and kill the fun. The only thing that seems to throw a wrench in the works are disasters, and they're implemented in a shoddy fashion. They're not an enemy that I can push back against, instead they just smash some cheaper buildings and then go away (except for the occasional tornado that wants to hang around for 4 months). Do the missions actually get harder, or it just a non-stop money bath? I'm not asking to have any major spoilers posted. I really, really would prefer no major spoilers. Just a broad indicator that I'm being pampered by these early missions, and there'll be some real action on the islands. Last edited by steveg700: 02-28-2012 at 01:34 PM.

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02-28-2012, 03:57 PM	#2
Niscimble Join Date: Apr 2009 Reputation: 136 Posts: 1,178	There are a couple missions that I had to start a second time due to some unlucky moves, but otherwise it's not too bad. The last mission is nuts, though. Still haven't beaten it.

02-29-2012, 12:42 AM	#3
SapphireBullets Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 37 Posts: 306	It is fairly easy, in that once you get established money flows in pretty easily and factions are relatively easy to please, though that seems true of most sim games. You can make things trickier by selecting non-ideal traits (I'm doing that on my second playthrough) and in sandbox you can adjust the settings so you've got a bigger challenge but mostly the endgame involves seeing just how large and happy you can make your little island.

02-29-2012, 04:27 AM	#4
steveg700 Join Date: Sep 2010 Reputation: 9 Posts: 259	Yeah, it seems like once some revenue streams are set up, then you're good to go. I was hoping that the missions themselves would force the player to make tough cuts. Maybe when you do really well, the island becoems a tempting target for outsiders. It seems that disasters are the only things the developers threw in to make things difficult, and like I said they are implemeneted in a pretty lousy way.

02-29-2012, 05:45 AM	#5
SapphireBullets Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 37 Posts: 306	Some of the missions throw interesting curveballs at you, like one where you've guaranteed to jarate off a whole lot of factions. For fan-challenges, "Isle of the Ancient Tropincas" provides an interesting challenge throughout in that your ability to build certain buildings is limited by the fact they reduce your coveted "Historical Authenticity" rating.