Tropico 3 / Tropico Mobile Fast Start Guide

How to get your island up and running in the first Ten Years

SECTION 100 – Setup

110 – INTRODUCTION – Tropico 3 is an outstanding city building and political simulation game where you are the dictator of a small island country in the Caribbean. This game was originally released as Tropico 3 on Microsoft Windows in 2009 but later re-released as Tropico Mobile on iOS and Android in 2019. In this game, the player starts with a nearly empty island and is tasked with developing an economy using farming, mining, manufacturing, and tourism investments all while keeping the residents happy & health and appeasing the needs of global superpowers and rebel factions.

120 – GUIDE OVERVIEW – This game is quite complex at the beginning and new players can easily get confused during the first few years of playing. The purpose of this guide is to give step-by-step instructions laying out exactly how to get your island up and running in the first ten years.

130 – TUTORIALS – As with any game, I recommend you play through the “Tutorial” and the “Advance Tutorial” first to get a basic idea of how the game works. This guide assumes you have a general idea of the game mechanisms, like how to build roads, construct buildings, set employee wages, etc.

140 – MISSION OBJECTIVES – Under “New Game” click on “Campaign” and select whatever level you’d like to play. The first few Campaign levels available to you are essentially extensions of the Tutorial, with each one forcing you to follow a particular strategy to meet the Mission Objectives. Read the Mission Objectives carefully to understand what it takes to beat the level. Most levels give you 20+ years to achieve your goals. Generally speaking, you should ignore the Mission Objectives for the first ten years and focus on getting your economy and social services running at full speed. There are some exceptions to this rule, so be sure to understand your goals carefully before diving into a mission!

150 – SCOUTING MISSION – Before fully playing through a level, I recommend testing it out for a few years to get a feel for what it has to offer. Click on the mission, choose a random Avatar, and start the level. Take note of the following:

• Starting Cash
  
• Number of Starting Residents
  
• Starting Buildings

Next, click on the picture of Map & Dial at the bottom of the screen and select “Crop Conditions”. Click through each crop and take note of the Average Soil Quality and any large green patches close to your base:

• Corn
  
• Bananas
  
• Papayas
  
• Pineapples
  
• Coffee
  
• Tobacco
  
• Sugar

Then, click on the “Natural Resources” tab. Click through each resource and take note of the Number of Deposits and Quantity Left:

• Iron
  
• Bauxite
  
• Gold
  
• Oil
  
• Fishing
  
• Logging
  
• Pastures

Lastly, click on the “Island Conditions” tab and check the map for large, flat areas with high Beauty. These areas could be used for building a bustling tourism industry in the future.

Set the game on Max Speed and let it run for 2-3 years without making any major improvements. Take note of any level-specific events that pop up during this time. Sometimes the story line will give you unexpected positive or negative outcomes during the first few years. Additionally use this time to build some road and test out which areas of the map are easily accessible from your Starting Base. A great farming or mining location is of no use to you if you can’t reach it!

SECTION 200 – Planning Your Economy

210 – BUILDING A PLAN – Exit the level and put together your plan to build an economic powerhouse. Money is CRITICAL in Tropico. Regardless of the Mission Objectives, you’ll want to put in place an economic machine that generates at least $50-$100K/yr. I recommend selecting 2-3 of the industries below:

220 – CIGARS (TOBACCO)

• TYPE – Farming
  
• INVESTMENTS – Farms ($1,500 each), Cigar Factory ($10,000)
  
• WORKERS – Farms (6x Uneducated), Cigar Factory (8x High School)
  
• NOTES – Cigars and Machine Cigars sell for a High Price (typically between $3,000-$5,000) and have a Low Investment Cost. For these reasons, Cigar manufacturing is highly recommended on islands with the right climate to grow tobacco.

230 – RUM (SUGAR)

• TYPE – Farming
  
• INVESTMENTS – Farms ($1,500 each), Rum Distillery ($22,000)
  
• WORKERS – Farms (6x Uneducated), Cigar Factory (12x High School)
  
• NOTES – Rum and Spiced Rum sell for a High Price (typically between $3,000-$5,000) and have a Medium Investment Cost. If you decide to focus on Rum production, I highly recommend using the Avatar Background Booze Baron, which doubles the price of Rum and Spiced Rum exports.

240 – CANNED GOODS (FISH/COFFEE/PINEAPPLES)

• TYPE – Farming/Fishing
  
• INVESTMENTS – Farms ($1,500 each), Fisherman’s Wharf ($3,000), Cannery ($15,000)
  
• WORKERS – Farms (6x Uneducated), Fisherman’s Wharf (4x Uneducated), Cannery (8x High School)
  
• NOTES – At a Low Investment Cost the Cannery can increase the value of exported Fish, Coffee, and Pineapples. Canned Coffee and Canned Pineapples sell for a Medium Price (Typically between $1,500-$3,000) and Canned Fish sell for a Low Price (Typically between $500-$1,500). I don’t recommend building a Cannery as it’s not very profitable and it can take valuable food away from the plates of your citizens.

250 – FURNITURE (LOGS)

• TYPE – Logging
  
• INVESTMENTS – Logging Camps ($1,500 each), Lumber Mill ($5,000), Furniture Factory ($17,000)
  
• WORKERS – Farms (8x Uneducated), Lumber Mill (5x High School), Furniture Factory (8x High School)
  
• NOTES – Furniture sell for a High Price (typically between $3,000-$5,000) and has a Medium Investment Cost. Furniture production requires two production buildings, the Lumber Mill and the Furniture Factory. I typically avoid logging as it upsets Environmentalists and Tourists.

260 – BAUXITE

• TYPE – Mining
  
• INVESTMENTS – Mines ($3,000 each)
  
• WORKERS – Mines (5x Uneducated)
  
• NOTES – Bauxite sells for a Medium Price (Typically between $1,500-$3,000) and cannot be upgraded to a higher value product. Mines are cheap, so it worth building a single mine at each Bauxite deposit to extract this resource.

270 – WEAPONS (IRON)

• TYPE – Mining
  
• INVESTMENTS – Mines ($3,000 each), Weapons Factory ($17,000)
  
• WORKERS – Mines (5x Uneducated), Weapons Factory (7x High School)
  
• NOTES – Weapons sell for a High Price (typically between $3,000-$5,000) and have a Medium Investment Cost. If Iron Ore is available I highly recommend taking advantage of it.

280 – JEWELRY (GOLD)

• TYPE – Mining
  
• INVESTMENTS – Mines ($3,000 each), Jewelry Factory ($13,000)
  
• WORKERS – Mines (5x Uneducated), Jewelry Factory (6x High School)
  
• NOTES – Jewelry and Fine Jewelry sell for a Very High Price (typically between $5,000-$10,000) and have a Low Investment Cost. Gold Ore is extremely profitable and should be extracted and upgraded to Jewelry as soon as possible.

290 – OIL PRODUCTS (OIL)

• TYPE – Drilling
  
• INVESTMENTS – Oil Well ($8,000 each), Oil Refinery ($15,000)
  
• WORKERS – Oil Well (2x College), Oil Refinery (4x College)
  
• NOTES – Oil Products sell for a High Price (typically between $3,000-$5,000) and have a Medium Investment Cost. Oil Wells produce Crude Oil on land and Oil Refineries extract Crude Oil from the ocean and convert Crude Oil to Oil Products. Unlike other manufacturing operations, oil production requires College Workers and therefore typically takes longer to initiate. If you decide to focus on Oil production, I highly recommend using the Avatar Background Oil Tycoon, which increases the prices of Oil and Oil Products by 50%.

SECTION 300 – Character Creation

310 – CUSTOM AVATAR – I always recommend creating a Custom Avatar for each level. Each avatar has five characteristics to select:

• 1x Background
  
• 1x Rise to Power
  
• 2x Qualities
  
• 2x Flaws

320 – BACKGROUND – Backgrounds provide extremely powerful bonuses to your avatar. The Booze Baron and Oil Tycoon Backgrounds substantially increase the sales price of Rum and Oil Products, respectively. The Miner and Farmer Backgrounds significantly boost your mining and farming endeavors. The Developer Background reduces the cost of all buildings by 20%. The Travel Agent Background gives a notable boost to Tourism.

330 – RISE TO POWER – Rise to Power sets the Democracy Expectations – i.e., the frequency of elections – and provides additional benefits. My favorites are Elected as Capitalist, which increases Factory Production by 20%, and Hotel Corporate Buyout, which boosts Tourism and provides a free Hotel.

340 – QUALITIES – Qualities provide further benefits to your avatar. Diplomatic is a must for the strategy outlined below. The Diplomatic Ministry is the first building that you will construct, and this quality saves you $5,000 by reducing its price to zero. Your second Quality is entirely up to you, but I recommend Financial Genius, which increases Factory Production by 20%, or Well-Traveled/Sociable, which provide a boost to Tourism.

350 – FLAWS – Flaws provide negative effects to your avatar. You want to pick two flaws that hurt your strategy the least. My “favorites” are Licentious and Short-Tempered.

SECTION 400 – Year One

410 – STARTING RESIDENTS – Once you’ve created your avatar, start the game. First, click the Residents tab at the top of the page. Click on “Residents – Education” to view how many starting residents have a College Education, a High School Education, a Grade Education, or no Education. The number of residents with each educational level is random, with the typical distribution listed below:

Typical Starting Education (50 Residents)

• College: 1-3x
  
• High School: 2-6x
  
• Grade School: 2-6x
  
• None: 38-42x

Having a few extra College and High School grads can be a big help in the early game before you get your education system up and running. You may want to restart a few times to maximize the number of Starting Residents with these educational pedigrees.

NOTE: On some Campaign Levels, you will start with significantly more or less College and High School graduates. For example, on the Campaign Level “Greed” you start with an increased number of High School/College graduates to man the privatized buildings that you start with.

420 – FIRST ACTIONS – Once you’re happy with your Starting Residents, take the following actions before unpausing the game:

• Diplomatic Ministry – Build a Diplomatic Ministry (Free) and set it to High Priority.
  
  
• Garage – Having at least one Garage near the center of your city will greatly speed up resident travel times. Build a Garage ($2,500) and set it to Medium Priority.
  
  
• Immigration Office – The Immigration Office ($2,500) allows you to control the flow of immigrants onto your island. Early in the game, you’ll want to set it to “Open Doors” work mode to maximize your population growth. Whenever you have lots of unemployed citizens switch it to “Tropico First” until you have sufficient Job Vacancies to handle the flow of immigrants. Set this building to Medium Priority.
  
  
• Mine – If you have spare cash and there’s an Ore Deposit close by, build a road to this location and construct a Mine ($3,000) at Medium Priority at the end of it.
  
  
• Avatar – Set your avatar to “Hard Hat” mode, which will speed up the construction of buildings on your island.
  
  
• Farms – Set your Starting Farms to Tobacco or Sugar, depending on your strategy. This means you will have NO FOOD production at the start of the game, which will be explained further below.

430 – BEGINNING THE YEAR – Set the game speed to MAX and let a few months pass. As soon as the construction of the Diplomatic Ministry is complete, pause the game and check your Resident’s Happiness using the tab at the top of the screen. If either Food or Healthcare Satisfaction is below 40 you will be able to issue the Humanitarian Aid Foreign Policy Edict. This edict allows you to place an Aid Camp in your town, providing food and healthcare to your residents for the next five years! This building has no cost or construction time and provides an enormous benefit in the early game. Rather than building clinics and using your farms to feed your people, you can divert your resources towards maximum revenue generation right away.

440 – ENDING THE YEAR – Once the Diplomatic Ministry is complete, your Construction Workers will build the Garage, the Immigration Office, and the Mine. Be sure that your avatar always stays in “Hard Hat” mode, as building construction is very slow in this game. When the year ends, you will receive Financial Aid from the US and the USSR. If your diplomatic relations are good, you could receive +$5,000 from each country. This is a LOT of money in the early game, so whenever possible keep your relations up by keeping your Diplomatic Ministry staffed and by issuing Praise US / Praise USSR Edicts.

SECTION 500 – Year Two through Year Five

510 – CONSTRUCTION – With your Immigration Office set to “Open Doors” you should get an early surge of uneducated immigrants to your island. Building a second Construction Office ($2,000) is a great way to put these citizens to work speeding up your construction efforts.

520 – EDUCATION – As soon as possible, take the money you made from Exports and Financial Aid and construct a High School ($8,000). Having residents with a High School Education is crucial for staffing your future manufacturing plants. If necessary, hire a few Foreign Workers to ensure that your High School is staffed appropriately.

530 – MANUFACTURING – Next, save up enough money to build your first manufacturing plant. Converting Tobacco/Sugar to Cigars/Rum and Iron/Gold to Weapons/Jewelry will substantially increase your cash flows from exports. Reinvent the money you make from your first plant into more Farms/Mines/Plants. I typically employ 3-5 Farms per Cigar Factory/Rum Distillery and 1-2 Mines per Weapons/Jewelry Factory. Continuing investing in your economy until you have 2-3 sources of high-value exports each providing $20-40K/year.

540 – HIGHER EDUCATION – Once your economy is rolling, build a College ($12,000) to provide a reliable source of College Graduates. You may need to hire one or two Foreign Worker to initially staff your College.

550 – SOCIAL SERVICES – At this point in the game, its likely that your residents are very unhappy. Constructing the following buildings will quickly cheer them up:

• Spiritual Life – Church ($6,000) – Requires up to 4x Male employees with High School degrees.
  
• Citizen’s Safety – Police Station ($5,000) – Requires up to 5x Male employees with High School degrees.
  
• Environment – Waste Dump ($5,000) – Requires up to 2x Uneducated Male employees.
  
• Entertainment – Childhood Museum ($2,000) – Requires up to 2x Female employees with High School degrees.
  
• Liberty – Newspaper ($7,000) – Requires up to 3x Female employees with College degrees.
  
• Housing Satisfaction – This happiness element will be covered in a future section.

560 – THE END OF HUMANITARIAN AID – As you draw close to the Five Year mark, you need to make plans to replace the functionality of your Aid Camp. To cover you Food Quality demands, I recommend building a few of the following:

• Farms ($1,500 each) – If the terrain is favorable, I eventually build one for each consumable plant type – Corn, Bananas, Papayas, and Pineapples. Be careful not to overbuild early on as farms can soak up a lot of uneducated workers.
  
• Ranches ($750 each) – I typically build one for Cattle and one for Goats.
  
• Fisherman’s Wharf ($3,000) – I usually build one of these near my Dock.

To cover your Healthcare demands, build a Clinic ($3,000), which requires up to 2x College educated Male employees. At the end of Year Five your Aid Camp will disappear and your residents will become entirely dependent on the buildings you just constructed.

SECTION 600 – Year Five through Year Ten

610 – TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL – During the next five years of the game you should invest in the following four elements of the game, in whatever order fits your overall strategy:

• Building an Army
  
• Building Residential Housing
  
• Building A Tier 2 Economy
  
• Building Tier 2 Social Services

NOTE: As a general rule, at this point in the game I usually “Fast Build” most structure that costs <$3,000 and sometimes some buildings that cost $5,000 or more, depending on how much money I have on hand.

620 – BUILDING AN ARMY – Building a sufficient army will protect you from Rebel Attacks and will greatly raise the respect level of the Militarists Faction. First, construct an Armory ($3,000) and/or an Army Base ($10,000). Each of these buildings can staff up to 3x College educated Generals. For each General that you have you can build a Guard Station ($1,500), each of which can staff 3x High School educated Soldiers. Your Palace can also staff 4x High School educated Soldiers. If you build a full set of Military buildings – a Palace, an Armory, an Army Base, and 6x Guard Stations – you’ll have 6x Generals and 22x Soldiers, a force large enough to easily repel any rebel attack!

630 – BUILDING RESIDENTIAL HOUSING – At this point in the game there are probably Shacks all over your city. You can get rid of these shacks and significantly raise your Housing Satisfaction score by building housing units. First, trigger the USSR Development Aid edict for $2,000, which halves the price of Tenements ($4,000 -> $2,000) and Apartment Blocks ($5,000 -> $2,500). Next, place a cluster consisting a Garage, a Marketplace ($375), and 8-10 Tenements/Apartments Blocks in close proximity together next to a road. The Garage will allow residents to quickly move in an out of the area. The Marketplace allows residents to eat meals without traveling to distant Farms. To house all your citizens, you’ll likely need to build several of these clusters throughout the game.

NOTE: It takes a lot of Tenements and Apartment Blocks to fully house your whole population. This can take your construction crews a long time to complete and requires a significant capital investment. Before getting started, you may want to build a third or fourth Construction Office. Remember to keep your avatar on “Hard Hat” mode throughout this process.

640 – BUILDING A TIER 2 ECONOMY – You may want to take your economy to the next level by investing in additional revenue sources. Oil Refining is extremely profitable – I highly recommend investing Oil Wells and an Oil Refinery if reserves are available on your map. However, oil refining requires a significant number of College graduates, so it typically gets started after your other manufacturing interests are already established.

Tourism is another potential source of income. Tourism requires establishing clusters consisting of a Tourist Dock ($2,000) and/or an Airport ($16,000), several Hotels ($5,000), and numerous Attractions and Entertainment locations. The US Development Aid Edict ($2,000) cuts the cost of building an Airport in half. A flourishing tourist economy requires a huge capital investment and lots of practice to maximize the efficiency of the setup.

650 – BUILDING TIER 2 SOCIAL SERVICES – To further raise the happiness of your residents you can build Tier 2 Social Service buildings. Many of these buildings require Electricity, which can be supplied from Wind Turbines ($6,000 each, 10-40 MW) or a Power Plant ($17,000, 120-360 MW). The US Development Aid Edict also reduces the price for Power Plants by half.

• Spiritual Life – Cathedral ($20,000) – Requires up to 4x Male employees with College degrees.
  
• Healthcare – Hospital ($12,000, 15MW) - Requires up to 4x Male employees with College degrees.
  
• Liberty – Radio Station ($10,000, 10 MW) – Requires up to 2x Female employees with College degrees.
  
• Liberty – TV Station ($15,000, 15 MW) – Requires up to 3x Female employees with College degrees.
  
• Entertainment – SEVERAL – I typically build a wide variety of different Entertainment options throughout the island.

SECTION 700 – Beyond Year Ten

710 – COMPLETING THE MISSION – Now you have a fully functional island with a powerful economic machine and plenty of social services to keep your people happy. Re-focus your efforts on achieving your Mission Objectives while maintaining the well-being of your citizenry.

Good Luck!

[burnhj]

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