In Tropico 4, as mentioned in our short “10 Point Guide”, you have a number of different methods to make money. They all boil down to two options however, the “Industry” and Tourism. I have been personally a fan of Industry over Tourism due to having a more steady hand on supply, production and sales. In Tourism while a high Tourism Rating will provide you with the maximum possible number of tourists the revenue can fluctuate quickly, and during periods of certain forms of crisis you may lose a substantial amount of tourists. That is not to say that having a strong Industrial Empire means you are unstoppable. There are Random Event that can, and will, sabotage your production or cut your profits substantially. However, unlike the Tourist industry, the production of goods and raw materials can be easily increased. It is very hard to increase your Tourism income during, let us say, the Llama Flu. This Guide is dedicated to Industry, and its many different aspects.
You might also be interested in our “Modern Economy” Guide, although most of the tips and observations present there come from the Modern Times DLC.
Just as important as your “Strategy” you also have your President. With the right Feats you can give your Economy a much needed boost.
Typically any Industry needs Raw Materials that can be then manufactured into practical, usable goods. In Tropico 4 this is not always the case. You can have countless factories producing goods without any mines, farms, lumber mills, fisheries, etc. This is because you can order goods through your Docks (Import). On the other hand this can be extremely taxing for your Economy, at the beginning. Factories are expensive, and certain types will need a lot of manpower to keep them efficient, and you will need to supply these factories with a lot of goods in order to make the handsome profit you desire.
Lumber Industry – You have a choice in terms of your Lumber Industry. You can chop down trees and sell the logs, or “refine” the logs at a Lumber Mill, selling more valuable Lumber. However, you may also choose to produce Furniture in a Furniture Factory, and unlike your ordinary Logs or Timber you will make much more money on Furniture than the previous two. There are a few issues with the Lumber Industry however. If you decide to start from the basics, and thus have a Lumber Camp or two you need forests to chop down. If your island lacks these (you may choose to play on an island with little to no vegetation) you may have problems starting your industry. If you have a Horiculture Station you may rapidly regenerate even the smallest forests on your island, granting your Lumber Industry a huge boost in productivity. From personal experience I found a slightly “odd” problem with Lumber. Logger Camps are efficient, but Lumber Mills are not. When I had a ratio of one logger camp to one Lumber Mill to one Furniture Factory I found the Lumber Mill to hold up production. You may even have two Lumber Mills for every Logger Camp, assuming that your workers are that efficient. A good idea is to have all the three building types close to each other. The pollution from the factories will not damage the forests, and you will complete the whole production cycle far quicker than if they were spread out.
My small town after a Tsunami. It was not a glorious time for me!
“Canning” – Food Production is your least beneficial production line, unless you have a Cannery. From Fish, Pineapples and Coffee you can produce different Canned Goods. The Cannery can take any of these goods and will produce all three “end goods” at the same time. As such, you cannot create a specialized factory produced only Canned Coffee, unless you grow only Coffee on your island. The good news is that a Cannery can kick-start your economy if previously you relied on Fishing and Farming, since all the food you normally sold will now have a much higher value. Upgrading your building to produce Freeze-Dried Coffee will improve its income further.
Cars (Modern Times DLC) – Car Production appears much later in the game, and by that time you might have no more Iron and/or Bauxite on your island to produce Cars. However, if you are adamant on expanding your Industry, or you feel an upcoming event will greatly increase your Car Sales then go mad! Car Factories, I found, are very efficient, and their sales will benefit you greatly. Despite the small Worker Number they are also relatively small and thin structures, so they can fit in many odd spaces. Since they appear much later in the game you might disregard Car Production until such a time that your other Industrial Lines cannot develop further.
Cement Factory (Quick Dry Cement DLC) – Cement… it’s an odd thing to produce. The Factory itself will not produce much income, certain Farms will be more profitable. However, a Cement Factory increases the speed of construction, and later on in the game when you have a quick growing economy being able to construct new structures quicker will be a benefit. Oh, and Cement Factories do not need any basic product to operate. All you need is workers.
Chemical Plant – Just like the Cement Factory, the Chemical Plant does not need any basic resources in order to produce its goods. It does need power however. If you decide to upgrade it you can greatly improve the Island’s Healthcare and produce more expensive chemicals. Relatively profitable, but other industries can out-bid it.
A Salt and Iron Mine. It might not look like much but they will form the foundation of my Economy.
Cigar Factory – If you are blessed with perfect soil for Tobacco then you can produce Cigars. Just like the Cannery, Lumber, and Rum Indsutries, Cigars are among the easiest to produce. You need farms growing Tobacco and the Factory to produce Cigars. By upgrading the Cigar Factory you can produce even more Cigars, becoming the greatest producer of cigars in the world!
Electronics Factory (Modern Times DLC) – This is a mildly expensive Industry for a small Economy. You will need Bauxite and Gold, as such you sacrifice Gold, which can be made into Fine Jewellery, for the sake of Electronics. Before you cross out Electronics out there is one huge benefit with these Factories. You can have up to Five Factories, and each one with a “Clean Room”, which increases the Price of your Electronics by 15%. Thus, having Five Electronics Factories, Importing in Bauxite and Gold, each one with a “Clean Room” Upgrade will bring about hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in profits (perhaps not *that* much, since a lot depends on your game settings, but you get the idea).
Jewelry – If you have Gold you can produce Jewelry. If you do not have Gold you can Import it, but that is VERY expensive. Perhaps not as expensive as Uranium, but it will still drain you if you have a small economy. Gold refined into Jewelry will bring a handsome profit and if you have the Finish Shop Upgrade you will produce Fine Jewelry. You will typically not focus an entire Industry around Gold, since on average you will have a single, or at best of times two Gold mines. A single Jewelry Factory will suffice.
Oil – This might be a bit confusing, especially if you are new to the game. There are two types of buildings. Oil Wells and Oil Refineries. Oil Wells can be buili in-land and they pump Crude Oil. Oil Refineries are built by the coast. If there is Oil near a Refinery, out at sea, an on-sea Oil Well will appear for free and it will deliver Crude Oil to the Refinery. NOW, Refineries is were you produce “Oil”. Oil Wells, both in-land and at sea only recover Crude Oil. Crude Oil offers a bit of money to a fresh economy, but if you want to be super-duper rich you want Refineries with their Oil. Unlike in the case of Oil Wells, Oil Refineries have a set amount of Crude Oil that their Oil Wells (the ones at sea) can produce. More Experienced Oil Refinery workers will only speed up the process of refining Crude Oil into Oil. You may choose to produce Crude Oil from Oil Wells and then sell it, but it would be more beneficial to keep the Crude Oil safe until you full-start your Oil Industry. All of these buildings also need College Graduates, which you might not have early on in the game.
Your Oil Refinery does not have a Garage of its own, so I build a separate one, just for it. The Profits will outlive the cost of the Refinery and the Garage.
Rum Distillery – Just like Cigars and Lumber, Rum is easy to produce, as you only need a Sugar Farm/Plantation and the Distillery to turn the Sugar into Rum. If you upgrade your factory you can produce Spiced Rum. More Money, no downsides, other than the cost to upgrade your Distillery.
Weapons Factory – If you produce Weapons all the other nations will like you slightly less. Unless you play on a highly unstable Political Setting, or if your Ruler has a lot of negative Political traits you will not lose much in terms of International Aid and trade benefits. All you need is Iron, and you have a number of possible weapons to produce. Each one with slightly different benefits, as well as some harsh downsides. Pistols are the best in terms of “Politics”, because nobody will hate you, Assault Rifles are Avergae, and Mines make both the US and USSR dislike you more.
There are, in essence, two paths you can follow. You can either produce goods with Renewable (Farming, Logging and Fishing) or Non-Renewable Resources (Mining and Oil). I would say that the decision on which one is better depends on your planned play-time, as well as available land and resources. If you have a lot of flat and fertile land then Farming would be a major boon. If there is very little fertile land but you have a lot of metals, mining it is.
Now, to be fair, Farming brings very little profit, unless you construct Factories. Having a Gold Mine at the start is enough to fund all of your early expansion, and I have even had glorious beginnings by a dashing investment into an Oil Well. At first you must focus on one type of Industry, especially since your funds will be very limited. Later on your choices expand, but so will your costs. If you invested in Farming Earlier on you may find your cities lack space, or that you cannot expand your industry further because there is no more good farm land. Mines may run out of resources eventually, forcing you to lose some of your profit for Imports. Is there a “good” or “bad” way? No, your only concern is to make sure that you plan for the future. Eventually you may decide to cease any Mining and Farming, instead focusing just on the Production and Sale of ready goods, while importing raw materials. You will still make a lot of money. Before you start Importing en mass focus on what you can produce cheaply, and thus on the spot. Whether you decide to Mine, Farm, Fish or Chop Trees you have plenty of choices.
Your Journal can provide you with a lot of details on your Economy, Export, Imports, Unemployment and Housing. In case you need to know how to improve your Economy this is a good way to find out how.
Let us make one thing clear though, certain materials or resources, when available, will bring in more starting money. Gold is a major raw material that can boost your economy at the start. Beef, including smoked beef will also bring about a lot of money. Corn and Fish are not very profitable, but they keep your people fed, and the excess may be sold abroad. If you have the Modern Times DLC you will find that Modern Farms, Fisheries and Ranches essentially eliminate any limitations of standard “farms”, and they can produce multiple goods with extreme ease. As such a single Modern Farm, producing Commercial Crops can keep three Factories running at the same time (Rum, Cigars and Coffee). It cannot get any simpler than that.
Let us say you start a Sandbox game, what do you do first? Without even a second thought construct a Garage in your starting village and connect your dock to your other roads. Without these two things you will be completely HELPLESS. Now survey your land. Check what Minerals are available, how you can connect the roads to them, where are the On-Land and Sea Oil Deposits, what type of farmland is available locally. Knowing all these things allows you to plan your initial construction and expansion. If you have gold, iron or bauxite nearby build a mine and connect it with a road. It does not need a Garage nearby because the Mine itself has a Garage for its workers. Having two mines will be a financial stretch but if you have enough spare workers you the costs will quickly turn into a profit.
Your basic income from Farming, Logging and Mining should allow you to expand your village into a town, or even a city, over the course of the next few years. Before you focus on your Industry provide your people with all the basic commodities and services. A Pub/Restaurant, Clinic (with Imported Experts, if necessary), Church and High School. The High School is essential out of all these because it allows you to supply your Factories with workers. Which Factory you build in first order depends on what type of Raw Material you are producing at the time. If you have a number of Logging Camps build a Lumber Mill. If you have Gold try building a Jewelry Factory (assuming you have enough reserve cash to not let your Economy “Crash”). Any Factory needs only High School Educated workers. Oil Wells and Refineries need College graduates. You might not even need a High School to train workers for your Factories, as Immigrants and Tropicans already present on the island could have High School or College Education.
The Salt Mine has two Ranches nearby producing Beef and Smoked Beef. Highly profitable.
While Education might be covered it is CRUCIAL that your trained staff does not flee or die. Thus the need for a basic Clinic, food supply (or imported food to a Market/Supermarket) and Church (to keep them happy). Pay attention to the needs of your people and fulfill them on the most basic level for now. Do not build anything overly expensive, as you might not have the money to keep it working.
The Key Word is Balance. At first you expand your economy, then your island, and then the economy again. Every building that does not produce a profit will turn a loss (usually), so after building different Education, Government and Housing buildings you may discover there is no money left! To stop that from happening observe your bank account, as soon as you see things fluctuate too much (you keep entering the “red” before a boat arrives) expand your economy. Build anything that will bring about certain profit. You may decide, after building your Lumber Mill, that you can use the Iron nearby and make weapons. Perhaps you will build a few farms to make tobacco or coffee? Even before you build the factories that will make the bulk of the income the farms and mines themselves will provide a small income boost. Do not leave it for the last moment however! The longer you wait the sooner your “Downfall” could come.
Your aim is, always, to maximize profit. If you have the Modern Times DLC you can use absolutely EVERYTHING to turn an ever higher profit, including the people themselves. This will be discussed in our “Modern Economy” Guide however, so keep your hats on, we are still in the factories.
Making money might seem easy, but what about maximizing your profits? There are ways of achieving that, so that no matter what negative event befalls you you can still turn around and say, “I don’t care!”. A lot of these are only available later on in the game, when you have the schooling or money to get access to them, but you should be well aware of them.
When it comes to the selling of ANY goods you have the Customs Office. With five skilled High School “Officers” this building can increase the price of any Exported Good by up to 20%! The building itself has other uses as well, such as decreasing the costs of imported goods, so while you can Export at a high rate you may choose to import at a lower one as well.
Your Ministry is just as surprisingly useful, assuming you have highly skilled Ministers. Their Intelligence, Courage and Leadership allow you to expect either positive or negative Random Events, such as higher satisfaction with Crime Safety, Free Buildings or higher Export Prices. It might not be your number one priority, but with the Ministers in place (you need to build a Ministry and hire Ministers) you also unlock different Edicts that will help you control the Island. Among the Edicts you also have the “Industrial Ad Campaign” that will increase the prices of your Exported Goods for a certain time.
When life gives you free coupons you build Lumber Mills.
Your workers are important because they produce you the goods you sell. As such, the higher their skills, the more they produce. In order to have higher skills you need to activate the correct Edicts, as well as provide them with High Schools, Colleges and Grade Schools. Media Buildings with the right mode active can also enhance learning among your Tropicans.
Having good relations with foreign powers will increase the prices of certain exported goods. The Middle East will give you better rates for Oil (not Crude Oil), China will want your Canned Goods. Other nations will bring about other benefits, in case you need Foreign Aid, or a Disaster strikes you.
Earlier I stated the example of your Logger Camp, Lumber Mill and Furniture Factory being put closely to one another, to cut down travel times, thus maximizing production. There are other buildings that can benefit your production or prices, thanks to their proximity or Modes. One such example (Customs Office) was already stated. Another similar case is the Horiculture Station that can increase Production or Prices of your different farmed goods. Another prime example is Salt. If you have a Salt Mine (this is a low value resource) you can try building ranches in close proximity to it. This will increase their output by 20%, thus making your Beef/Wool/Cheese sell in bigger quantities. It is always good to observe which buildings can further enhance your Industry (such as, the join benefits of Electronics Factories).
In just thirteen years my small town expanded to a half-decent city. What will it look like in the future? Look at the very end.
Another thing, not mentioned in the previous chapters, is your need for Power. If you do not have the Modern Times DLC you will only have the Nuclear Power Plant and the “Power Plant” (Gas and Coal). From personal experience I find the Nuclear Power Plant to be EXTREMELY expensive. While it may provide an awful lot of power it is only ever does any good for a huge Economy that needs to expand even further. The basic Power Plant, using either Gas or Coal, can keep your economy alive, but as you expend you will need multiple Power Plants. If you have the Modern Times DLC you have access to Windmills, which can produce 25WA of Power (if situated on a high Cliff) and Solar Power Plants (that can produce MORE power than an ordinary Power Plant, when fully upgraded). The Windmills and Solar Power Plants are sometimes better than your “Messy” cousins, as they produce a lot of power, have a very low upkeep, but a very high entry cost (a fully upgraded Solar Power Plant will cost you 60,000 USD).
The problem with all Power Plants is how much space they take up, so be careful when planning out your power grid, as you may quickly run out of space.
You might be an upstart economy, or a Power House, things can still happen, and you will not like them. During my most recent playthrough my small town was washed away by a Tsunami, forcing me to repair a lot of my structures. Even later on when I had a huge Economy I had Volcano Eruptions and a Tornado. Perhaps the most destructive event, financially, was the Economic Crash, which occurred near the end of the game. While I still made a humongous profit I could feel a slight change, maybe because at the time I was focusing a lot on tourism, and not just my Industry.
In short, DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
If you have the Modern Times DLC you will have the “Timeline”. These are planned events that will occur as the game progresses. It is also your cheat sheet, because you can view what will happen next, and prepare for it, or dismiss it. There are however many other random events that could effect you. You have some control over, such as Rebel Attacks (or Bombings), Faulty Ministers, USSR/USA Invasion, etc. Some of them you do not, such as the Economic Crash, Llama Flu, Tsunamis, etc. While you cannot stop certain things from happening you can always ensure a degree of your own safety. Keep good relations with the EU (for Emergency Disaster Funds), keep your own monetary reserve at a certain level, build more than a single Dock (just in case you lose one with ALL your goods about to be exported), do not rely on a single money making structue (if your economy collapses and you have no backup, you will lose), build a fully upgraded weather station (it will minimize any costs from Natural Disasters), and construct a Fire Department (who knows when you will actually need them?).
Take note that sometimes a Nation might propose to give you a Blueprint for a structure, if you sell them a certain amount of a good. Such quests are very useful, because you get rid of the blueprint research cost, but do not accept such a quest if you do not plan on pulling through with it. You can only have five quests at a time, so if you clog yourself up you might be unable to take one you really care about.
Most importantly, keep EVERYBODY happy. The Nations, your People and your Bank Account. If you fail to attend to any of these your plans of grand expansion and profit will crumble before you even begin. Do not be worried about the small bumps, such as a few rebels, criminals, or angry factions. You have to start off by making a few enemies. Keep them in check, and eventually give them what they want. Do not cross the line where they will openly act against you.
If you are looking for a shorter Guide check out our short “10 Tips” Guide for Tropico 4. Expect a “Modern Economy” Guide as well! Good luck on your new Island.
From a small Village to a huge Metropolis. If you look to the Minimap you will see I started to build a separate City, as I was running out of space for my Commerce and Industry.
