Difference Tropico 4 and 5

[Belzun]

Hello,

What are the differences between Tropico 4 and Tropico 5?
Is the 5 worth to buy?

[statickshocker]

5 is divided into eras, 4 is always during the cold war.

5's farms are easier to place because you can specify where they farm. In 4, you just place the farm itself and the workers decide where to farm.

I think 4's almanac might have more info. 5 took some stuff away.

That's all I can think of right now.

[Havan_IronOak]

Do the farms in 4 still have the same kinds of benefits as "improvements?"

Though I can't find it now to give the link, I did once see a you-tube that showed the evollution Tropico from 1 to 2 thru 3 and 4 up to 5.

I've heard some critics say that 4 was really the superior game though the graphics are an era behind 5's.

[Sharahfluff]

the main thing is that tropico 5 is the first tropico where the military actually seems useful. where as in the earlier games it felt more of a drain than anything unless you really have a buttload of rebels.

[statickshocker]

Originally posted by Havan_IronOak:

Do the farms in 4 still have the same kinds of benefits as "improvements?"

Though I can't find it now to give the link, I did once see a you-tube that showed the evollution Tropico from 1 to 2 thru 3 and 4 up to 5.

I've heard some critics say that 4 was really the superior game though the graphics are an era behind 5's.

You can upgrade them, if that is what you mean.

[Havan_IronOak]

Upgrades in Tropico 5 give specific bonuses. e.g. Suggar Plantations make nearby plantations more productive, & Pineapple Plantations benefit from nearby pineapple plantations. I was just wondering how that worked in 4 when the actual area of the plantation was undefined

[Theme Park Games]

In Tropico 4 you can name El Presidente whatever you want. In 5 you can't.
In Tropico 4 you can have El Presidente visit places (factories, etc.).
In Torpico 4 you could create a speech targeting certain issues for El Presidente then give in. In Tropico 5 you cannot.
All the great things you could do specifically with El Presidente in 4 you cannot do in 5.
Tropico 4 had less rebellions and fighting which was overkill in 5. Things you did in 4 had better effects on controlling rebellions, etc. than 5 which would launch coups at times that made no sense. I once had rebels in 5 with a high approval rating of me (the rebel leader had 100% approval of me) and they still launched fights - very unrealistic.
Many buildings/things that were available in Tropico 4 were only made available in Tropico 5 with DLC. Bad precidence.
Overall the game in 4 felt more interactive, customizable, and complete than in 5.

There are, of course, several things that 5 does better than 4 (trade, management, researching, skills/traits, family dynasty), but a lot of the "fun factor" and interactivity is gone. Don't get me wrong, I still like Tropico 5, but Tropico 4 is a superior game. Hopefully some of the things missing in 5 (personalization, customization, El Presidente control, etc.) are present in Tropico 6 (if and when it is ever released).

One of the problems with Tropico 5 is that it seemed designed to be a "every console/system" game and therefore restrictions were placed on the PC version in order to make it more easy to port/code for consoles. This also adds years to the whole process of when we see a new version released.

[sieur_metz]

There are three really big conceptual differences.

1st - Tropico 5 has you guide your island through different eras with significant differences between them in terms of what buildings are available and a common theme of upgrading your island as you move from epic to epic.By contrast, Tropico 4 is exclusively cold-war and only a handful of buildings take into account what year it was.

2nd - The trade system is radically different. In Tropico 5, multiple docks are a must because each ship transports only a very limited amount of cargo - but, they take that cargo to more specific places with a lot more variation in pricing. Tropico 4 you really only need one dock. Its extremely difficult to load so much stuff onto the dock that a single trade ship can't handle it all. There is also little variation on the prices of a single good without some scripted event happening first.

3rd - There is a pretty dramatic difference in what you can build and how you build it. Tropico 4 allowed you to build somewhat freely, but everything in Tropico 5 snaps to a clear and evident grid. In Tropico 5, gardens come as a 1x1 sqaure or a 2x2 square and they pretty much all look the same. In Tropico 4, pre-formed gardens were an amalgamation of other decorations - statues, trees, benches, bushes - formed into a small, medium, or large garden you could place anywhere you could fit it. You could also simiarly place the individual trees, bushes, and statues almost anywhere you wanted. There were far more entertainment and media buildings to choose from. Tourist buildings felt like they made more sense in Tropico 4 because there were so many more attractions, but tourism would always hit this weird spot where despite having the rating to support it, you wouldn't get more toruists.By comparison, Tropico 5 hotels are far more expensive, give a very good return, but leave you wondering why people are coming to such a boring little island compared to the sheer number of attractions in Tropico 4.

In all, I like many of the mechanics introduced in Tropico 5, but some of them needed a bit more polish and there really need to be a lot more buildings.Ultimately, if you liked Tropico 4, you will probably like Tropico 5 as well, but find yourself missing the diversity of buildings available in Tropico 4.

[Andariel Halo]

everyone's pretty much already detailed it in great detail. I can only add another voice


I started with Tropico 4 and it was fun as hell. I did Tropico 3 some years later, and found that 3 and 4 are almost exactly the same in virtually every way.

I spent about 10 minutes in Tropico 5, long enough to see it's definitely completely different. 3 and 4 stand out to me as the definitive "Tropico" experience (though that's not even a fair assessment given Tropico and Tropico 2) since Tropico 5 appears to be set on an Eras system while 3 has multiple different missions with different gimmicks that all start in 1950 - 1980 or 1990, and Tropico 4 was a storyline that slowly advances along the 1950s and 60s, though you can spend as long as you want in any single mission

[ElPrezCBF]

Although T4 doesn't have eras like T5, its ton of content and huge choices of character traits (perhaps even more than T5), as well as its riveting storyline makes it a better choice than T5 imo. T5 also doesn't explain well how you can gain better control over your economy. I played some dlc missions on hard settings and kept bleeding money too fast to the point where I felt they were broken on hard difficulty. Mind you, I'm a veteran who completed the entire T5 main campaign as well as all the T4 dlcs, yet this experience made me think twice about playing T5 again. Don't get me wrong. I like challenges, but not when the game fails to explain clearly through the UI and in-game messages certain things I may have overlooked.

In fact, I enjoy Anno way more than Tropico because the game warns you when you stop producing certain resources or there are bottlenecks. I don't remember T5 ever giving me such alerts. It would take a lot of convincing for me to get away from Anno and back to T5.

[sauluxville]

I see nobody pointed out the true difference:

T4 (and previous versions) simulated each individual Tropican - they had their own character traits and needs to satisfy and they had to actually visit respective buildings to satisfy those needs.

T5 has done away with that and just runs statistical model of the population. All those people you see is just a smoke screen, an illusion, so that the map would not be empty.

That's a major change of the original concept, and I must say, I don't like it one bit. But that's probably because I played Tropico since the original one and still think that the first one is the best (if you don't mind graphics, ofc). So I am prejudiced. If you're new to the series, T5 is quite an OK game, especially on sale.

[Diogenes]

In Tropico 4, you could make loads more money.

I could usually get about 15 million within an hour or so. I don't remember exactly, it's been a while since I have played Tropico 4.

In tropico 5, the last time I played it, and the reason why I stopped playing it, was that I never really seemed to get anywhere money wise. Following all the tips, tricks and tactics, and after an hour, I still only seemed to have about $250 thousand in the bank. Earning money in Tropico 5 seems to suck, compared to 4.

Also, in Tropico 4, Penultimo is actually kinda funny. In Tropico 5, the radio presenter is like an annoying rash that you can't scratch, or in her case, shoot.

[Spoonanner]

I like both 4 and 5. I cannot think of comparisons at the moment, but I will just say I play 5 consistently and haven't touched 4 in a long time.

[dummy]

diffrence of tropico 5 and 4 is
tropico 4

-immigrant can be controlled
-more building
-rare chance of rebel attack
-better building in the modern time dlc
-making money is easy
-there is no setting to stop natural disaster before starting the game
-many outfit
tropico 5
-outnumber immigrant always arrive and uncontrollable
-some of the worker use the same model and outfit
-fewer outfit for your dynasty member
-annoying radio presenter
-in world war era soldier uses m16a2 rifle thats weird m16a2 never being made in that era
-after the foreign battle ship spotted they will drop their unit to destroy some building
-in modern era modern infantry the mark of the gun are something but they still use m16a2 why
-military squad are in a group

[Teralitha]

Ill keep it simple. I like 5 better.

[Spill]

Ill make it even simpler, 4 is more fun than 5. And cheaper as well. btw sale on Tropico 5 on GreenManGaming