2014

Volcanoes and Earthquakes, Oh My

stargrace August 12, 2014 0Comment

I spent my free time yesterday after work playing a bit more Tropico 4, and falling more in love with the game. I’m now on the 3rd campaign, which I have lost, twice. It’s the one where you need to be a tourism island. I’ve read a few guides and a walk through or two to make the process a bit easier, but so far I have been unsuccessful.

It doesn’t bother me because I find that the game can be played over and over again and still have a different outcome each time, which is awesome. The first time I played the tourism campaign, I had rebels rise up and take over a mine, and I really sucked as a president and everyone hated me, so I lost the election (and thus the game). The second time a volcano erupted, burned down most of my town, and of course an earthquake followed that tore down my power plant AND airport. Those things are expensive.

I eventually ended up resetting the game when I was -$19,000 and at least I learned some things. Like.. there’s no way to prepare for a volcano… Poor Tropicans…

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I Might be in Love with Tropico

stargrace August 11, 2014 1Comment

I love steam. I love that I can make wishlists, and that I can see those of my friends. I have taken to randomly giving out steam gifts when I see that someone is having a bad day. It makes me smile, and it’s just something I like to do. If you’re looking to add me, please feel free. I’m there as Stargrace (big surprise).

Anyway, I recently won a steam copy of Tropico 4. Why I had never played this game before, I have no idea. A few friends of mine suggested that this game would be perfect for me, since I love games like Civilization, Sims, Sim City, and Banished. After 3 hours of playing, I have to agree. When I first started the game I decided I wasn’t going to bother with tutorials. That was a mistake. I quickly failed anything I tried to do after that, didn’t know the commands to do what I wanted the game to do, and so I went back and played through the (very lengthy) tutorials. They come in handy.

I then proceeded to play through my first campaign. It starts out really simple, you have to worry about a few rebels but no one is coming to invade you. You’re given a “city” to start out with (I use the term loosely) and you’re tasked with bettering it. I started out by swapping my farms over to corn so that my people could get some food. Built them a hospital, some fishing warfs, and before I knew it my little city had blossomed into a 200 population town. There were police stations to keep down the crime, and then the environmentalists started in on me. They were a thorn in my side. I built them some rehabilitation plants along with some strategically placed fountains and trees to block the dump. That seemed to appease them.

Finally it was election time. I was granted a lot of money to bribe make as many quality of life changes as I could in a pretty short time, and then see how the election went.

I won, of course. A generous leader! I had 157 votes, while my competition only had 43. I noticed Tropico 5 is out right now, but I don’t really have the funds to pick it up, so I’m going to wait for a steam sale (maybe the Christmas one). In the mean time, I’m certainly hooked.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!