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Category Archives: Let’s Play

Some kind of “Let’s Play”. Maybe it’ll be X-com with Friends (where all the soldiers get named for my friends), or Dwarf Fortress. Suggestions certainly welcome.

Let’s Play Tropic 4: XI

March ’54

Progress is slow, but the second cannery is done. A new dock has been started, to allow for more traffic, the previous one just won’t be able to support the amount of incoming and outgoing cargo that we anticipate. Housing is lagging behind a bit, but hopefully we can get the the contracts on the new apartment blocks facilitated… just might have to grease some palms or relax some safety regulations. I mean really, a nice apartment is surely going to be safer than some rickety shack so it’ll be an improvement overall.

 

December ’54

Just in time for Christmas, we’ve spent a huge amount to bring electricity to the dock front. Primarily this was to enable flash freezing of the coffee, however surely AC in the apartments will make all of the workers happy!

March ’55

I need some cake and circuses or whatever the phrase is. One of our residents has started a protest because she was bored. I mean, there’s plenty of work to do, and we’re currently operating at a deficit after spending way too much to bring electricity to the apartment complexes. I guess we’ll have to build some sort of entertainment for the locals. I wish they would just work all the time when they weren’t sleeping.

August ’55

It’s taken nearly five months, but we’ve finally gotten paid for the latest Coffee export, at $37k we’re not only back in the back, but primed to build some primo entertainment facilities to keep my populace mollified.

November ’55

And we’re broke again, I really need to reign in my spending, but there’s so much we need. A Childhood Museum to entertain and enlighten, a Casino (rush built) to bring in a little more money, and a Clinic and Church. The sad truth is that month to month we have to operate at a deficit, though the frequent shipments more than make up for it, I really need to keep a few dollars put by for day to day operations of the island.

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt X

January ’53

My scientists have told me they can send me back in time, though only 3 years. However thanks to this I’ll be able to take advantage of certain key world events, as long as I can make a success of myself on another island. And don’t go visit any islands where I’ve already established myself. Apparently meeting oneself from another timeline will destabilize the sub-reality infundabilium. Or something like that, I’m not super clear on the terms. However I’ve got a contract with Mr. Preston from America and I think I can make a rum up job of it, even if the settlement here is pretty sparse.

March ’53

Initial survey results are in, and the mineral wealth of this island is so abysmal it should probably be called mineral poverty. We’re going to have to create a thriving import/export business, and profit from being the middle man. Fortunately, as far as shipping lanes go, we are right in the middle. A little of the old ‘buy low, sell high’ and I should be rolling in the dough in no time. The first step is of course to build a Custom’s Office. Hopefully the workers on this island are a little more diligent.

September ’53

The Customs Office is finished and the foundations for a couple of cannaries and apartment complexes have been laid down. This should enable to us buy cheap coffee, repackage it, and then sell it at considerable markup. Perfect!

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt IX

February ’65

A couple of tourist have been abducted and held hostage! How terrible. We’ll send the army in and rescue them, no tourists will be injured during my watch!

 

November ’65

The islands first roller coaster is finished, this should be a huge tourist draw, and hopefully will be the start of an amazing theme park.

 

February ’66

Election results are in, and yet again the people love me. 88% voted in my favor. I suppose i’m slipping a bit. On the bright side I’m at nearly 900k Followers, I’m quickly approaching my self set goal of a million Tweeters!

 

April ’66

Success! I’ll let the picture speak for itself! I wonder if those tourists were ever rescued? Oh well, I’m sure the army will manage it if they haven’t already, but I have business elsewhere; CEO Keith Preston has a lucrative contract for me on Yermo Encarnado, and I feel if I stayed much longer on this island the volcano would surely erupt. Better to leave while I’m ahead as they say in poker.

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt VIII

October ’62

The tourists’ habit of throwing their trash anywhere has lead to some bad habits from our beloved natives. As such we’ve built a dump on the outskirts of town. There were a few complaints from some of the residents of the nearby apartment complex, but we assured them that this is the most modern of dumps, with recycling and trash incineration and the smell should be very minimal. Plus we offered them reduced rent for several months!

 

June ’63

The newly finished cathedral should help with the bishop’s complaints that there isn’t enough space to worship on the Island. Now we just have to hire someone to run it and then wait for them to show up on one of the boats. Really it would be nice if there was a way to promote our highschool and then build a college so we didn’t have to “import” college graduates and could instead hire natives for all of these vital tasks.

May ’64

It’s taken a while but the housing situation seems to be finally coming together. There are still a few dozen people living in shacks, but there are no more homeless! And no, I didn’t just have them shot.  Wages have been increased across the board and rent prices have been kept low. The amount to be made from rich tourists is astronomical so there is no reason to stint on quality of life for my people. A new Luxury hotel is nearly complete which is the first step in wooing famous world leaders which will likely prompt even more tourism.

September ’64

My cabinet acquired some … compromising photos of a certain US senator. In exchange for them disappearing a small contribution to my retirement fund has been anonymously made. Everybody wins. And no, we won’t be posting those picture here.

January ’65

One of the small number of malcontents and terrorists on the island was wanted by the US. We did our best to extradite him, but apparently he escaped their grasp and is now blaming our wonderful island and threatening revenge.

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt VII

January ’60

Cara Libro truly was an idyllic  place before we invited all of these foreigners to our island. So far most of the crimes have been littering and vandalism, but we can’t have our chief of police operating out of a shack behind the Libro Imperator Hotel, and so we’re ordered construction of a fully functional and modern police station right in the heart of the tourist district.

Additionally the results of the Election are in, only 15 residents didn’t vote, and only 8 didn’t vote for me. With 87 votes that’s nearly 80% confidence level. It is good to be loved by the people.

 

December ’60

The TV station is nearly complete. The current plan is to broadcast educational programming. Learning with Leroy should help boost the brainpower of our citizens, which is especially important with all of the new technical jobs opening up in the marketplace (like working at the television stations for example.)

 

July ’61

Something has stalled the construction of the TV station… The ground apparently is not stable enough to support the TV tower and so they’ve had to install a special foundation, regardless it’s been six months and it still is “almost done”. The bright side of this is that one of our oil rigs has sprung a leak and so we at least will probably be able to fix the issue before it becomes widespread knowledge.

 

January ’62

Only a year late the TV station is finally completed, but due to the massive delay Leroy has left for other greener pastures (a farming programme in Louisiana.) That said we’ve contracted w/ another TV Teacher who should be here on the next boat, and changing the name to Learning with Louise shouldn’t be too hard. Plans are in place for a Cathedral and more housing.

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt VI

June ’58

The housing situation is just untenable, with nearly 40 people living in shacks. I’ve been told there are some homeless as well, but I don’t believe that for a moment. As El Presidente I promise, we’ll have sufficient housing before the end of the year!

 

 

January ’59

We’ve built 3 new apartment buildings and have a fourth almost finished, we’ve dropped the prices to a ridiculously low amount, but we still have 40 people dwelling in shacks. Maybe if we knocked the shacks down they’d move to the nicer locations we’ve set out for them. With an election coming up there is no better time to make this a big issue.

Maybe the people just don’t realize all the wonderful housing opportunities available to them. Out with shack living, in with Air conditioned Apartments.

 

 

June ’59

The Marina is finished which is great for tourism, but even after we demolished a half dozen shacks the people still seem to prefer to sleep on the beaches rather than enjoy the modern comforts of the Air Conditioned apartments we’ve spent a ton of money building. They’ve even built a few shacks near the marine, but we can’t just blow those up as surely some of the tourists will see us doing it and take it the wrong way.

September ’59

The housing situation is still abominable. They keep building shacks instead of moving into the glorious apartments. I’ve mandated an increase in wages for the uneducated, maybe they just can’t afford to live properly but I’m afraid there’ll be a riot if we order their shacks demolished again. On a brighter note, the seaside resort is finished and will surely attract more high class tourists!

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt V

November 56

In a bid to win the elderly demographic, which should also garner more respect from the older tourists, we’ve instituted a Social Security scheme. Right now there are so few qualified individuals it’ll only cost us about $12 a year…

January 57

Senator Crane is a smooth tongued devil… This “Freedom Tax”; well, we have little choice to pay, as there isn’t much we could do if the Americanos became angry with us. This is a great hardship as most of our current budget was to be spent on improved housing conditions for our populace… We have a tenement building and a condominium, but many are still living in shacks.

September 57

It’s been a fairly uneventful summer. The Llama Flu ban on immigration has been lifted, apparently enough people thought it was a hoax. Our housing situation is still fairly dire, and there’s been rumblings from our local priests that we don’t have enough religious support. We do have the third of four planned ranches is just being finished, which should be a nice dietary addition to the fish and corn that is the vast majority of local fare.

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt IV

January ’56

Ahh, the start of a new year. We’ve built a tacky little tiki bar since the tourists all seem to want to spend at least one night in the local dive. We’ve also nearly complete a second clinic, and just in time, we’ve been placed under quarantine due to an outbreak of the Llama Flu.

August ’56

The Llama Flu has finally run it’s course and tourism can resume, though immigration is still prohibited. We’ve offered considerable discounts to any tourist who has a significant social media following, this should help get the word out and hopefully really bring the numbers of visiting tourists up. On a more domestic front we’ve started working on an electrical infrastructure, and while it’ll be a while before we can afford to put in a proper hospital, we’re at least able to offer AC now which should improve everyone’s quality of life, event in the more decrepit tenements.

October ’56

A small earthquake cause the tenement to collapse. We were able to fund rebuilding easily, though that will delay the hospital a few months. Much worse, apparently many of the natives are unhappy and some of them are forming some kind of rebel organization. Some of the more violent minded of my advisers are suggesting we should raise a militia to deal with them, but I think if we can just raise their quality of life they’ll see what a great leader I am voluntarily put down their arms.

Let’s Play: Tropico 4: Pt III

Welcome back to Cara Libro. The first tour ship has arrived, bringing 10 tourists (who may have received some massive discounts on their tour package.) However apparently Monopolies are bad, and so the UN has suggested that we need a second motel, and have even given us a grant to help fund it’s construction.

March ’55

The second hotel is finished. My advisers suggest we may need to build a second Construction Office, as the number of buildings we have planned is getting quite extensive. Of course constructing a second CO would delay all of the other buildings.

May ’55

So the popularity of Social Media has given us a concrete goal. If we can get a million followers we’ll have made our mark on the tourism industry. So, all you twits, follow me #presidenteforlife.

August ’55

The First Church is finally finished, however I just found a report that 3 people died last year due to poor healthcare. This is unacceptable; so I’ve doubled the staffing of the clinic and we shall shortly build a second clinic. Sick citizens will lead to poor service for our tourists. It should not be too expensive to keep our workforce hale and hearty and we shall reap the rewards from the rich tourists!

September ’55

I just stumbled across a year old report about the possible danger of the Volcano. If I were to believe this report, should the volcano go off pretty much everything is going to be hosed in lava, so I choose the simple expediency of not believing the report. Obviously there’s something wrong here, so we will suppress all information about the volcano. Obviously it’s safe, I mean… it didn’t go off last year did it?

Let’s Play Tropico 4: Part II

Turns out the campaign is a bunch of fairly short scenarios… about 5 minutes into the second session of the first one I won. Oops. Unfortunately all my screenshots of #2 (How to Mine Fish) mysteriously disappeared. I blame the rebels. So this means we’ll skip right on to mission 3. Interestingly any traits you pick slowly improve over the course of the game, so I’m keeping my Professor background, but switching my Rise to Power to Hotel Corporate Buyout since it’s got a tourism bonus. Likewise I’m switching my Entrepreneurial trait to Sociable for the tourism bonus.

 

So the island has an active volcano. One can only hope that will lead to FUN! later. In the meantime, the island only has the most basic infrastructure, however since the goal is going to be to make a tourist trap we’ll keep our cargo dock on the other side of the island from the touristy area. The little bay in the upper right is nice and sheltered and has an interesting rock formation and should make the perfect tourist destination.

 

 

 

 

I’ve started with a tourist dock (much nicer than the cargo dock on the other side of the island, and a few bungalows. I’ve also built a road from the historic downtown. Obviously we’ll want to get a hotel in shortly, and some other entertainment, but for now this should be enough to entice a select few to come to Cara Libro and spread the word of this idyllic island with it’s quaint charms.

<Time Passes> And a few months later the wharf and a couple of bungalows are finished. Due to poor planning, the hotel has been finished well ahead of schedule while 3 of the bungalows still are little more than foundations. Unfortunately the pub has become a local favorite and will probably need to be entirely revamped if we want to make it presentable to the more high class clientele we’d like to to attract to the island. The job of El Presidente is never done. Also still under construction is a garage to allow for easier transport between Paradiso district (hey, my marketer isn’t the most original) and the Historic District. In retrospect we should probably have built the garage first to enable faster travel for our construction workers.

Soon we’ll have a beautiful vacation spot with the tourists flocking here in droves. I’ve talked to my advisers and we’ve decided to focus on the wealthier demographic. To that end we’ve started construction of a five star Spa and a Fancy Marina which you can see the foundations of below.