Economy just won't grow

[Alx_MM]

ok guys, i honestly don't know what i'm doing wrong. i got 3 distilleries, 1 weapon factory, 1 cigars factory, 1 boat factory and several ranches and plantations. i got no active importations, so i produce everything i need for my industrial system. Despite this, my economy just don't grow up. it doesn't matter how many factory i build, i will always be on the edge of zero dollars. what's wrong with this game?

[Westerado]

If you look in ledger/almanac, there is an option to view your treasury balance of the last 12 months. Within this treasury balance you can see your most expensive building to upkeep, as well as the value of your exports and rent/service fees. Use it to estimate/determine what is dragging you into the red.

Some possible issues with your island:

-Your services are very 'socialist'
ergo healthcare, food, housing is free. An advanced economy can afford this, but with a rough start it can be hard to overcome in the beginning. If your distilleries are running efficiently then it shouldn't be a problem though.

-Salaries are too high/too many services
Your teamsters, construction, casino, hospital workers all cost money, even if they're not doing anything useful. You may have too many money costing buildings. If you have many homes sitting empty then that can cost a lot of money.


-Factories not running optimally
A: The building is supplied with insufficient raw resources, check if their supply intake is full enough. Your cigar factories should over time easily have 2k tobacco in storage at all times. How is the efficiency of your farms? Anything below 70% efficiency on base budget (3 out 5 money in the overview when you get when you click on a building) might not be profitable.

B: The workers of the building can have all their needs fulfilled in the area. If your workers live in China, drive to Australia to eat something then go to church in London then they won't have much time to be at work. I build homes, entertainment, religion, healthcare, grocery together and put my production facilities around it.

C: Not enough educated workers. Do you have worker slots sitting empty? Then you don't have enough people with a high school diploma. But I think it's safe to assume you found the 'high school' in the building menu already.

TLDR; The almanac of Tropico 6 is considerably more expansive and informative than in the previous games. Look through all the menus and click on all the things. Get a sense of your income and costs.

[Darkcymru]

this game does reward players with patience too. i have same problem

[Westerado]

Originally posted by Darkcymru:

this game does reward players with patience too. i have same problem

I can't agree with this more. I'll sometimes 'lose the plot' and start screwing up. Closing up the island (immigration office+ research) to more people usually allows you to correct course before draining all capital. Even a short pause in immigrants can give you the financial breathing room to invest in high tier industry.

[Unicorn-Farts]

I know it's years later now but others may still play occasionally and end up seeing this. If you optimize the industrial production you can get great returns. Firstly you need to check the value of the good produced and in the almanac look how much your factory makes of it. For example my car factory made 730 cars with a value of 28000$ pr 1000cars. I had electricity used which roughly costs 1$MW and upkeep in wages of the 2 rubber hydrofarms and mines and steel mill. Optimized apartments create rent for each person . Well off you get roughly 160$ year, rich people pay net 524$ pr year, poor only 57$, all if you optimize rent. All other services are free because costs and rents cancel out if you make them use hybrid healthcare and place things effectively. Ultimately the car production chain made me 500-600$ pr employee net income including rents. That's not great, many chains are better. Rum is triple that and furniture is double that. This isn't fantastic so you want to use trade agreements and the exports office to increase your sales value.

The worst industries are canneries. Cheese is as profitable pr employee as cars are. Overall rum is the best choice unless you want prohibition.

You can also increase the time spent working and reduce costs by being an atheist state. Production buildings run best on max budget. Homes on lowest possible. Banks on lowest possible. You can understaff your police with little consequences. Ministers can improve the productivity. In my calculations i had all houses electrified and budget on 2.

[Vitalstatic]

Also put some houses/chapel/tavern near your industries, put teamsters on max budget and use the free wheels edict. Make sure to spread out some parking decks and your good to go.