LogFAQs > #952229712

I've spent a lot of time with Tropico 5 on PS4 and Tropico 6 on PC. That said, I have never played the Switch version, but reviews of it sound like it performs pretty bad. Particularly, handheld mode experiences a lot of frame rate drops. It sounds like you'd be better off getting it on another console, or PC if you have that option.

I can still explain the gameplay though. Basically it's a city builder that focuses on keeping your citizens happy and your nation profitable.

Overall happiness is handled by 8 needs the citizens have: Housing, Jobs, Food, Healthcare, Fun, Religion, Liberty and Safety. Each need has buildings that increase citizens happiness for it. For example, building enough houses, so that no one is homeless, helps keep housing happiness up, while building taverns, circuses, theaters, etc., increase entertainment. If citizens become too unhappy with how you're running things, they can rebel and sabotage your buildings. Citizen happiness is also tied to your odds of winning elections. They happen every 10 years in-game and losing an election means game over.

There are also 8 different factions (Communists, Revolutionaries, Conservatives, etc.) within your nation that will make different demands of you (give you quests), in order to increase your standing with them. Their approval of you also contributes to your odds of being reelected.

The economy is handled mainly through your nation's imports and exports. You can build up several different industries starting with plantations, livestock, wood and mining. As you advance through eras (or if you just start in the modern era in sandbox), you unlock more advanced buildings that can refine ores to make jewelry or steel, or use things like cotton to make fabrics and fabrics to make clothing.

For combat, you can be attacked by outside forces. Pirates or The British Empire ("The Crown") can attack you during the colonial era, The Axis or The Allies can attack you during the World Wars era, etc., depending on who you piss off. The battles play out mostly automatically though. If you have military bases built when an attack happens, your troops will move to intercept enemy troops. If you don't have enough troops, you can quick build military buildings and hope they move out fast.

Unlike games like Cities Skylines, there isn't any traffic management to worry about. Transportation buildings are mainly there to help your citizens live in homes that are far from their workplace. If you don't have transportation and there's no affordable housing available near their worksite, they will live in a cardboard shack (aka homeless) near the worksite instead of moving into an apartment. And while you do have to worry about your power grid, you don't have to manage water systems.

There is a lot to learn, but the game's scenarios do a good job of teaching you everything as you go.

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PSN - NoxObscuras
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