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Tropico 4 eGuide
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Contents

  • Essentials
    • Buildings
      • Housing
      • Welfare and Economy
      • Entertainment
      • Government
      • Education and Media
      • Food and Resources
      • Industry
      • Infrastructure
      • Tourism
      • Attractions
      • Luxuary Attractions
      • Landmarks and Beauty
    • Economics
      • The Economy
    • Politics
      • El Presidente
      • Foreign Relations
      • Political Factions
      • People
    • Gameplay
      • Game Modes
      • Achievements
  • Walkthrough
    • Chapters 1-10
      • Rise to Power
      • It's All Mine
      • Into the Spotlight
      • IMPORTant Business
      • Tropico Above All
      • Bickering Factions
      • Crysis
      • Survival
      • No-one Left Behind
      • Independence Day
    • Chapters 11-20
      • Fruity Business
      • The Olympic Heist
      • The Blind Revolution
      • To Bait Fish Withal
      • Best Served Cold
      • Operation Endgame
      • Forgiveness
      • The Clandestine War
      • Perestroika
      • Tropican Utopia

Tropico 4 Guide › Walkthrough › Chapters 1-10

IMPORTant Business

Yermo Encarnado is described as a barren wasteland with few resources to exploit, but with the help of Keith Preston and the island’s proximity to international trade routes, El Presidente means to use this island as the next step in his quest for international power.

Preston sends some of his most educated workers to the island. Where you put those people is key.

Note

Penultimo has ‘misplaced’ the blueprints to farms and mines, so you can’t build them. You’re not expected to rely on them for this chapter. Food will be handled by cattle Ranches and imports.

Tip

Early on, consider getting a High School started. The heavy industry on the island is going to upset the Environmentalists, and high school males make soldiers (and replacements).

You’ll also want to consider a college to educate leaders for more advanced jobs and commanders for your soldiers.

The first step is to get a Customs Office set up. After this, Preston will explain the need to export canned goods. You’re asked to build a Cannery or two to get things started.

You need to export 1000 units of Canned Coffee. Since you can’t build farms on this island, enable imports on the Canneries to get Coffee from outside sources.

Consider upgrading them with a Packing House to boost production.

Tip

One Task that pops up early on is Penultimo’s request to build a second Dock. Take up this Task, as it never hurts to have two docks to deal with imports and exports.

Preston will offer you $20,000 and 40 employees. If you’re willing to take the hit to your respect, exploit these people and throw up another cannery. Make sure you have enough cattle ranches to feed your new citizens.

Tip

A neat trick early on is to build the canneries and ports as close to each other as possible, with roads connecting them that are short.

This way, the travel time from factory to the docks is short, and you can cram more goods on the dock before each boat arrives.

It doesn’t hurt to have housing near the canneries, so the workers don’t have to travel far to get home.

Penultimo will interrupt your work by informing you of a strike among the workers. You can choose to create a Cosmic Pin to appease them or turn one of the ruins on the island into a dungeon.

They will continue to be less than pleased with your efforts even if you do make the Pin, and will ask for Mansions!

Penultimo will offer the alternative giving them prison time, which will cost you respect on the island, but increase productivity.

After 8 years on the island, Preston is not happy with the speed of the work going on. He presents an ultimatum: Export $100,000 worth of goods in the next 8 years, or lose the island.

This is not as hard as it sounds, as long as you keep on top of your canneries and other producers with regular Presidente visits, and ensuring you’re allowing imports of goods they need to use, you should easily make this goal.

Once you’ve ensured the export business of the island, Preston wants to see the power grid improved. Generate an additional 121 power supply.

You can do this by manning a Power Plant with workers, but you may not have the people on the island to produce into the workers you need.

If business is good, you can always hire foreigners, or you can build the necessary College if you already haven’t.

Note

Preston will offer a Task that demands you make $500,000 off of exports. He’ll also interrupt you with an offer to send over 3000 units of weapons to another country, which can help accomplish that export objective.

He will continue to provide Tasks that feed off of the Weapons Factory, so it can be a very lucrative deal.

Once the Power issue is resolved, Preston will still say that investors don’t believe in Yermo Encarnado. To fix this, a Shopping Mall is suggested. You need to import 500 units of Luxury goods as well.

After this, you’ll be offered one final Task: Hire 40 factory workers. You can actually have this objective completed well before it’s even given to you. Once this goal is reached, the Chapter is concluded.

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