I finally have Tropico 5 and the time to start playing it. If you're new to the series and asking, "What is Tropico?", it is a city-builder (similar to SimCity) where you play the dictator of a small banana republic on a Caribbean island, attempting to grow your country while appeasing multiple factions to avoid being overthrown/invaded and siphoning off cash to your Swiss bank account. If you've played Tropico before, your question is probably "How is it different from the other Tropicos?" Tropico 4 felt too similar to Tropico 3 for most fans of the series, and they (rightfully) don't want to pay $40 for an experience they can almost duplicate by buying a 4-year old game for $10. To that end, I'm detailing my first run through Tropico 5's sandbox mode, pointing out what's different and what feels the same, so others can use it to decide whether to buy it.

...Of course, I want to put a GiantBomb twist on it too. In honor of Patrick vacationing in the Dominican Republic, which caused a Twitter replier to mention "how exploitative the tourism industry is there", I've decided to make a highly-exploitative tourist trap to lure in suckers like Patrick! Now I just need to pick a Duder that fits the role of El Presidente well. Hrm...

Here's my representation of El Presidente Davis; the character creator is a bit slim on options (and you have to choose from an existing list of first names), so instead of the splitting image of Ryan Davis, we're going with the uncannily similar Rico Davis, General Extraordinaire. (You can't see it here because it was on the previous character creation screen, but I've given Rico Davis the General perk, which increases our troops' damage by 2%.) Also note our avatar's... low-quality appearance is because I have the Graphics Options set to low for this game. Framerate trumps detail IMO.

With our initial El Presidente created, time to choose our map & settings for this game:

Isla Rojo specifically mentions plenty of scenery porn; such natural beauty is vital for a tourist attraction. I set the various difficulties to Average and don't set any Victory conditions; this game will run until I get bored or ousted. Note the "Starting era" in particular; Tropico 5 has implemented 4 different eras you go through during the game. The Colonial Era is the earliest one. I won't be able to start a tourist trap immediately; first I need to get through the earlier eras.

Time to dive in.

And here's how our fledgling colony looks at the start of the game: the Governor's Palace, a few houses, a corn plantation for food, a dock for trade, a Construction Office to construct buildings, and a Teamster's Building to transport food and resources. Take a look at the minimap in the lower-left; notice how it says 4y (4 years) instead of an actual date? That's because the Colonial Era is essentially a timed mission: you're a Governor in service to the Crown with a 4-year mandate over this colony. To become the El Presidente we all know and love, you need to get your Approval Rating above 50% and then declare Independence. Judging by our current 15% approval rate, that's going to take some work. Four years won't be enough.

Luckily, you can extend your mandate by performing services to the Crown like this:

Right now, I really don't have any option other than forcing a smile and agreeing to His Majesty's flippant demands. On the plus side, I can use a tobacco plantation later to make high-quality pseudo Cuban cigars, so it really isn't a loss... I get to work building a plantation.

Along with the Royal requests, I can also complete requests by the Revolutionaries; doing so increases how many people are in the Revolutionary faction, who support my dream of an independent Tropico and increase my approval rating. I'm doing Royal requests to buy time to garner enough support from the Revolutionary requests to declare independence.

These requests highlight an important difference between Tropico and SimCity: it's not just about creating a near-perfect city to keep your citizens happy, it's also about completing requests to keep the various factions happy.

Once I complete the Royal request, I get to choose my reward:

...Of course I go with the direct deposit into my Swiss Bank account. Did you think I was altruistic?

In previous Tropico games, the Swiss Bank account was just a means to increase your final score. In this game, it's also used to level up your Dynasty's members, including El Presidente himself. If I ever want Rico Davis to reach Level 2, I'll need to indulge in a little greed.

While I'm growing cash crops for the Crown, I build a Library for the Revolutionaries. This also opens up the game's Research tree, a new aspect in Tropico 5. Rather than giving you everything off the bat, you need to research new buildings & upgrades.

Once you research enough technologies in the first tier, you can research the 2nd tier of technologies, and so forth. So far, I've found it relatively easy to research all of the technologies, but I'll see if things change in the later eras. Oh, and research gives you some pretty bad jokes as well:

I research Mines first because my initial exploration squads have discovered three Gold Mines within spitting distance of me. Exploration is another new aspect of Tropico 5: resources are hidden from you until you send an infantry squad to explore it, but that requires time and money.

Once I have gold mines up & running, I open up the Trade table and look for a good deal. In addition to the default trading previous Tropicos had, you can choose specific trade routes for more profit. Your trade partners influence your relations, though. In this case, the Crown won't be pleased that I'm selling my Gold to Smugglers for 40% over the going rate, but I'm beginning to garner enough support that I can start pissing off the Crown.

While I'm busy building up support and money, I get a pleasant surprise:

I thumb my nose at the Royalists some more.

And I continue the military tradition by giving my heir the Tactician trait. Now my soldiers deal more damage and take less damage! That'll come in handy if I have to fight off invaders or rebellions.

They grow up fast. Flavio Davis is immediately ready to help Rico Davis manage the island, or even take over the Governorship himself. Having a Dynasty with multiple family members that can fill various roles is also new to Tropico 5; I won't have much time to really set it up or see how useful it is during the Colonial Era, but we'll see how it rolls out in later eras.

Just when I get comfortable, this lovely notice pops up. My source of mandate extensions is running dry; I'll have to declare independence soon. I'm down to less than a year in my mandate and my support is only hovering around 42%; it's time for drastic measures.

Edicts either give a constant effect (as long as you fund them) or give you a one-time boost for a hefty amount of cash. In this case, I'm giving away a third of my treasury to bolster public opinion. A few months later, my approval rating jumps to 52%; the Tax Cut did its job. I quickly declare independence before they can forget their future President's generosity.

When I declare independence, I have the choice of either paying a large sum for a peaceful separation, or going the bloody revolt route. Guess which one I choose?

It's a close fight, but my passive bonuses (plus the Colonial Fort I built near the Dock) give us the edge, and I successfully survive flipping the Crown the bird. With my declaration of independence, we advance to the World Wars era, where we have to deal with elections, a constitution, and even more factions we have to mollify! Will I survive long enough to reach the Cold War and the Age of Tourism? Stay tuned to find out!