How do you make money?

[Diogenes]

Hi Guys,

So I bought tropico 5 a few nights back, thinking that it may be like Tropico 4 in some ways. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to make money early on. I went to use the old Plantador style of game play, a few Sugar Plantations and a Rum Distillery, but it doesn't seem to work very well in Tropico 5. I've tried relying on exports, but don't seem to be getting a lot with 7 Plantations spread between Sugar, Tobacco and Coffee. I have two docks and, on average, I only seem to be making around $30,000 per shipment.

Are there any tips's or tricks that can help out?

[Lцсᶖаᶇ º¹]

I'd shift towards cotton, cocoa, pork and lumber. Those are normally the most yielding raw materials after the mining ores. Only make the old 'cash' crops when you can process them.

[nusensei]

You need to shift to industry sooner rather than later. Plantations don't generate that much income; only enough for you to start investing in industry. Logging is a good starting move, as you can research the lumber mill early and get some decent cash. Cotton and Llama Ranches transition well into Textiles, which is a huge moneymaker if you can keep up both Wool and Cotton production.

Also make sure you have enough Teamsters to transport your goods around.

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Viridis:

You need to shift to industry sooner rather than later. Plantations don't generate that much income; only enough for you to start investing in industry. Logging is a good starting move, as you can research the lumber mill early and get some decent cash. Cotton and Llama Ranches transition well into Textiles, which is a huge moneymaker if you can keep up both Wool and Cotton production.

Also make sure you have enough Teamsters to transport your goods around.

Are the requirements for Teamsters the same as they were in Tropico 4? I.E. 1 Teamsters per 100 population, or have they changed that now?

Also, I don't know how much of a difference it makes, but I normally play on the Modern Times setting. I've yet to actually look at the Colonial setting since I beleive that is the setting that you are referring to in that description, please though, accept my apologies if I am wrong.

[Lцсᶖаᶇ º¹]

If you're already in modern times why are you still playing an agrarian economy? There's your problem right there. Agrarian is only for colonial age, and even then you should have a lumber mill.

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Lцсїап º¹:

If you're already in modern times why are you still playing an agrarian economy? There's your problem right there. Agrarian is only for colonial age, and even then you should have a lumber mill.

Because, before I played Tropico 5, I played Tropico 4. I thought that the Ranches, Plantations
and Rum Distilleries would work just as well in this as they did in Tropico 4 but that didn't go according to plan, and I don't entirely know what business model I should be using in Tropico 5's modern times. They feel like completely different games.

I imagine that most of the revenue would come from Vehicles and Pharmaseutical Companies, the problem with that is that you will run out of resources at some point for vehicle production and will, almost exclusively, rely on the import export trade.

[Kniescheibe]

office buildings generate a good income. Furthermore in endgame researching is rewarding too. Both concepts need no teamsters or ships to generate money. Once you are at 500k banks are useful too

[YEOLDEDRAGON]

The worst rip-off, deceitful part of this game, is that the Cheat Engine software, that allows you to set your amount of money to whatever you want... within limits, used to work for the first few weeks... maybe month the game was out, but then suddenly it won't work anymore... and every single "Trainer-software I've tried, which is supposed to give you the same possibility, are rip-offs too + there are NO official cheat-codes, as there always was in the old Tropico's -...noe, I prefer not to cheat, but with a game with THIS high a learning curve(T5 is vastly more difficult than it's predecessors), it is an absolute necessity, unless you have unlimited time to play on your hands -I truly believe Ubisoft has shot themselves in the foot, with this decision -my prediction; there will be no more Tropico, after these fatal decisions... I know I'm speaking on behalf of vast numbers of Tropico-fans, when I say; no one likes negative surprises of this magnitude... this was the last Ubisoft-game I ever bought... unless they can prove they've come to their senses.

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Lord Simon Mayday:

The worst rip-off, deceitful part of this game, is that the Cheat Engine software, that allows you to set your amount of money to whatever you want... within limits, used to work for the first few weeks... maybe month the game was out, but then suddenly it won't work anymore... and every single "Trainer-software I've tried, which is supposed to give you the same possibility, are rip-offs too + there are NO official cheat-codes, as there always was in the old Tropico's -...noe, I prefer not to cheat, but with a game with THIS high a learning curve(T5 is vastly more difficult than it's predecessors), it is an absolute necessity, unless you have unlimited time to play on your hands -I truly believe Ubisoft has shot themselves in the foot, with this decision -my prediction; there will be no more Tropico, after these fatal decisions... I know I'm speaking on behalf of vast numbers of Tropico-fans, when I say; no one likes negative surprises of this magnitude... this was the last Ubisoft-game I ever bought... unless they can prove they've come to their senses.

Personally, I won't use cheats, or trainers. If I wanted unlimited money, I would just play a Sandbox game with unlimited money, which I don't, because it ruins the objective of Sandbox gaming, which is, in my opinion, too see how much money you can make. If you cheat to make money, it makes that aspect of the game useless and may even make the game lifeless.

What does Ubisoft have to do with Kalypso and Tropico 5?

[Vertibird]

colonial era: upgraded cocoa plantations and get a trade deal for them, you are swimming in cash, world war era: steel mill, rum distillery, trade deals for them, customs office and drydock = swimming in cash again, cold war era: automobile factory and pharma company, modern era: chocolate factory and other modern era buildings. Trade deals help a lot, high relations with foreign powers increase export prices, customs office helps a lot too.

[YEOLDEDRAGON]

..well then -the problem with the "unlimited cash" option, is that you don't get an idea of whether your island actually has a positive cash-flow... as I said, I really don't like to cheat, but the personal fact that my left hand is paralyzed, makes it impossible for me to do things as fast as they need to be done, in the startup-phase, in order to get a positive cashflow, even though it was fully possible, both in T3 and 4, without using the cheat-codes... but that's just me, and, if I know myself right, I'll figure a way around that predicament... in the meanwhile, it makes for tearing ones hair out, in frustration, over having bought a game I just can't get around... if I could cheat, it would only be in order to more easily figure out a way around that predicament, for then to become a non-cheater, once I knew how -I realize this is very personal, but WHY could one use Cheat-engine the first month the game was out, and then suddenly it won't work -it feels more like I'm the one who's been cheated, and, btw -who cares if anyone cheats in SP-games?

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Lord Simon Mayday:

..well then -the problem with the "unlimited cash" option, is that you don't get an idea of whether your island actually has a positive cash-flow... as I said, I really don't like to cheat, but the personal fact that my left hand is paralyzed, makes it impossible for me to do things as fast as they need to be done, in the startup-phase, in order to get a positive cashflow, even though it was fully possible, both in T3 and 4, without using the cheat-codes... but that's just me, and, if I know myself right, I'll figure a way around that predicament... in the meanwhile, it makes for tearing ones hair out, in frustration, over having bought a game I just can't get around... if I could cheat, it would only be in order to more easily figure out a way around that predicament, for then to become a non-cheater, once I knew how -I realize this is very personal, but WHY could one use Cheat-engine the first month the game was out, and then suddenly it won't work -it feels more like I'm the one who's been cheated, and, btw -who cares if anyone cheats in SP-games?

Yeah, I know the feeling. I've just about given up on being able to make millions from Tangable and None Tangable, Current and None Current Asset's in game. Each time that I start a game now, it feel's like everything is more of a Current / None Current Liability if anything.

Instigating Island wide unrest with Citizens and Guerillas is fun though. I enjoy rolling the tanks up tropicano square. I wish they had an Illegal Arms trade or possibly even Drugs trade in the game, the two thing's that Dictators are known for.

The issue that I have experienced up to now also, is that I forgot how reliant I was on the Plantador traits from tropico 4, to make up 3/4 of my revenue stream. Now that trait is no longer available from the beginning of the game, I am at a loss without it. Also... Penultimo kind of sucks now, and is no longer funny, which is a shame.

That's exactly the issue with infinate resources, you have no idea how well your entire resources are doing if you don't need to monitor their cash flow.

As regards to cheating in SP games, I agree with that point. I do cheat in some SP games, but not all. I would like to learn to play this game properly though at some point because I think that the knowlege of how to win properly, is more valuable than knowing how to cut corners.

[Legata Flavia]

Easy, build every type of farm only once, same with industry, have all types of money building but only once, if you need close in industrial buildings half of working slots. You cant go to negative budget with this.