El Presidente serves as your avatar in the game. You can customize El Presidente to suit your personal tastes and style of play.
The choices you make while you design your avatar can have a great effect on your economy’s development, as well as on your relationships with factions and foreign powers.
You can edit El Presidente or select a new avatar when you begin each mission, so consider testing out new backgrounds or personal traits as you play through the game.
Appearance
El Presidente’s appearance can be altered to reflect your personal tastes. You can present yourself as anything from a common citizen to seasoned war hero.
Your avatar’s appearance does not effect any other elements of the game, so you can express yourself without fear of any consequences.
Background
El Presidente’s background is a short summary of his or her early life. Each background provides special bonuses or penalties which can modify everything from faction Respect to export prices.
Backgrounds can have powerful effects on various strategies, so make sure you select one that compliments your style of play.
Rise to Power
The Rise to Power is the story of how El Presidente became Tropico’s newest leader. Like the background, the Rise to Power effects various aspects of the game, but they usually focus on faction Respect or foreign relations.
Traits
When you customize El Presidente, you can select three traits to further determine how your avatar effects the game world.
Traits provide more specific modifiers which can be used to offset El Presidente’s negative qualities, or to maximize the effects of existing bonuses.
Traits become more powerful as they are used in the game, so make sure you select traits that compliment your style of play. Since different maps require different strategies, it can be very helpful to select new traits for each mission.
The more traits you develop, the better your chances of surviving more difficult scenarios.
Putting El Presidente to Work
El Presidente can be extremely useful during difficult missions. Send your avatar to various work sites to speed up construction of new buildings, boost production, and improve service quality.
Your avatar’s presence can either inspire or terrify your workers, but the results will always be positive. You can also use your avatar to calm protesters, deliver speeches from the palace, decorate soldiers, or to help your army fight off rebel attacks.