Should I focus on a few particular products or just do everything?

[ClayburnGriffin]

I finally reached the modern era, and up until now I've had most all industries going on my island. But it's just getting too complicated at this point and it seems like it takes teamsters forever to move goods around where they need to go.

So to streamline things I was thinking of maybe focusing in on a few industries, like Cars and Smart Furniture. Then getting rid of any industries not related to that, except for some basic food to keep feeding my people and exporting excess.

Would that work or is it better to do everything? I also thought about cutting out the raw material or middle steps, but it seems that importing is unreliable since it depends on trade routes being available and those are often overpriced too, plus it takes a long time to import resources.

I was hoping my tourist industry would take off so I wouldn't have to have so much industry, but even with a lot of tourist stuff already it's only around $20,000 in annual revenue.

[Szkiee]

If you want to focus on a single point of "pursuing efficiency" I think it would be better to narrow down the industry, as you said. I think your idea is a very good one.
Producing a wide variety of commodities and having complex transportation from one end of the island to the other is less efficient than if we narrowed our focus to a few commodities.
Considering quality of work, the education required for workers, and the ease of producing raw materials, a chocolate factory or a fashion company would be the most likely candidates.
On the downside, it may be a little more difficult to establish trade routes and take up missions to World Heritage sites.

Tourism should be more profitable. Something may be missing.
Do you have a "tourist only" setting?
There may not be enough accommodations or entertainment facilities.
There are many ways to improve the situation, such as increasing the budget for entertainment facilities and decreasing the budget for accommodations.

[vega]

maximise where you put your industry in relation to your "raw" products for teamster efficiency. for instance logging camps furthest away then timber mills that then feed your boatyard and furniture thats close to the docks. when you upgrade the boatyard your steel and alu should be the same. iron mine and coal feeding the steel mill then to boatyard thats a short run to the docks. do this for all industries if possible. have your nuclear powerplants close to the uranium mine etc. i found having 2 docks screws up teamsters too, long time since i tried it maybe they fixed it up a bit? youd track them moving finished goods for export from 1 dock to another!!!!!! total waste of time.

things like vehcle plant you can have further away close to your rubber plantations or steel mills (both preferably) just make sure your teamsters are not running from one side of the map to another then back again to docks etc. when your mines run dry move your factories accordingly. i always focus on everything (so i can capitalise on maximum use of trade routes and benefits them buildings provide) and if i see a raw material being exported i'll build something to use that resource or increase wages in factories so the raw is used faster.


teamsters are one thing i never skimp on. but you do need to balance and spread them out if your using whole map. not enough consider building more or upping wages/upgrades in what you have. just make sure they are running efficient routes. only imports i buy are discounted ones and thats only after i build relations with superpowers (so i can grab money off them on cooldown using the embassy) and they go into warehouses until they can be used or just flip them for a quick profit. there is an exeption to this but thats using an edict. look at what your edicts do and use them fully to your advantage same for world wonders. remember you are a tinpot dictator of a banana republic don't be afraid to act like it:) one thing i did notice tourists dont like much is if you close down elections and have a lot of rebels to deal with no one likes to holiday in a warzone right? you don't have to keep everyone happy to force your island to work though it is harder to balance.

i try and keep my tourist area out of the way in a nice place with things for them to do. i don't make tourist only areas but ive never tried that if im honest.