How do y'all like Modern Times?

[Matthew]

There are some fun things added here, but something about it just feels off.

We are supposed to be a backwards Caribbean island trying to catch up to the rest of the world with outdated, obsolete communist era infrastructure. Yet with Modern Times, we are plopping down cutting edge technology with bio farms and ridiculously huge skyscrapers in 1977.

It also makes the game super easy. Not that a builder game is particularly challenging, but just compare Modern Times with the last scenario of the base campaign. You need to carefully balance everything just to barely push wages high enough to get a worker rating of 65 and then hope to finish the mission before your economy implodes.

With Modern Times, just set all your uneducated worker pay to 30 dollars and you'll still have too much money. The new buildings are just too efficient and there is no need to balance anything any longer.

And the worst thing about it, to me, is that when a new building unlocks it replaces the older option. So it isn't even an option after a couple decades in the game. If you add a new building, it is going to be the hyper modern version.

I suppose this is sort of a review, but just wondering how y'all like it. Tropico 4 is supposedly one of the better of the series, and I found the base game to be quite enjoyable. Modern Times just feels a bit too immersion breaking. And takes away my cabaret and replaces it with a boring theater

[Aturchomicz]

As someone who just likes Modern Themes in general and who has played quite some of Tropico 6 I think its a near mandatory part of the game. Like yeah your Island does clearly start out poor with a Humanitarian Aid Center being the center of everything for while but at some point you want to have an aesthetically pleasing Island where things like Markets (no joke one of the most Ugly Buildings in the entire Franchise) and Wooden Farms get replaced with something without Mossy walls...
But on the other hand yeah some of the buildings it takes away are pretty cool. Couldnt imagine playing it without mods smh https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tropicomoddng/locknot-no-longer-supported-t361.html

[Matthew]

The marketplace is indeed ugly and you don't really want to keep building them when you have fancy restaurants and museums near.

Though some of the Modern Times buildings are hideous as well. The modern bank looks like an architect vomited glass and steel on a blueprint and called it a day.

I suppose the expansion isn't that bad in sandbox mode and starting in 1950. That gives a good 10 to 15 years before all the replacement buildings really start to take over. It was just a bit off putting starting the campaign and you start at 1960 or later. Which is fine for introducing the new buildings, but it also means making all the old buildings obsolete almost immediately.

And I still do think it makes the game a bit too easy. A bio farm saves you around 12 workers which you can push into more money generation. You can max out wages and still get too much money coming in each shipment. But I suppose that is where mods come in, which I haven't looked into. There are probably some mods which tone down the power/efficiency of some of the new buildings.

[Rex]

I enjoy Modern Times but it has a lot of balance issues making it too easy. I also resent how some structures become unavailable, like armory.

[Aturchomicz]

Originally posted by Rex Draco:

I enjoy Modern Times but it has a lot of balance issues making it too easy. I also resent how some structures become unavailable, like armory.

Do most Players just dont like mods or?

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tropicomoddng/locknot-no-longer-supported-t361.html

[Rex]

Just didn't google it. Seems like cheating, not worth it. Being forced to use larger structures really hurts, making it optional just makes it so I can never honestly say I beaten the game fairly. I am just merely saying it's bad design, not that I want to cheat lol

[Aturchomicz]

Originally posted by Rex Draco:

Just didn't google it. Seems like cheating, not worth it. Being forced to use larger structures really hurts, making it optional just makes it so I can never honestly say I beaten the game fairly. I am just merely saying it's bad design, not that I want to cheat lol

You cant cheat in Singleplayer games but ok nice flex??

[Rex]

Not flexing, I'm just saying your response doesn't make sense. I complain that modern times makes the game too easy, which is valid and fair since I am far from alone when I say I want a more engaging experience rather than click and win, but you then link me a mod that makes the game EASIER. It was just weird, it's also weird to imply I am saying people can't cheat in games.

[AlexMBrennan]

Modern Times is a very crude fix to a number of problems in the base game (you can't build efficient roads so now you can just teleport people using the metro, your economy is reliant on uneducated males moving stuff around so now you get offices who can employ all the uneducated women, etc). Modern TImes is not amazing but getting anywhere close to the 1500 population limit would be a nightmare without it.

Which is fine for introducing the new buildings, but it also means making all the old buildings obsolete almost immediately.

That is less of a problem if you remember that most buildings in Tropico are not worth building.

[-Leadbelcher-]

Mostly just hate the modern apartment because of the atrocious helipad on top of every one, as if that is realistic in any city of the world. Metro is a dumb crutch too for not even allowing one way roads, etc. Need highways so badly.

[Aturchomicz]

Originally posted by -Leadbelcher-:

Mostly just hate the modern apartment because of the atrocious helipad on top of every one, as if that is realistic in any city of the world. Metro is a dumb crutch too for not even allowing one way roads, etc. Need highways so badly.

Car brain moment, no thanks