Watching the Quick Look has ignited my urge to play that kind of game but I'm just wondering if I should go with 3 or 4. 4 being the same as the 3 won't bother me as much cuz I've never played a Tropico game and the only difference for me between 3 and 4 is that I'll end up waiting for 4 to go on sale in the upcoming Steam sale or just buy 3 now.

No suggestions?

There have been some pretty good Steam sales on Tropico 4 this year, but if you're looking to buy right now, you'll still get the large majority of the Tropico experience with Tropico 3. If you go with 3, I'd advise you to get Tropico 3 Gold, which includes the Absolute Power expansion ($15 vs. $10 for vanilla T3).

And the developer announced (a few months back) that they're already working on the next Tropico title, though I haven't seen a release window.

I'd say probably whatever is cheaper because there don't seem to be many changes. This is just from what I've read though, as I only played Tropico 4 earlier this year and have never played 3. Apparently the expansion for 4 was nothing special either.

It's quite fun though.

I've played plenty of Tropico 3 with its expansion and own 4 with its own expansion, but haven't started on 4 yet. It seems like an even trade-off in that 4 is like a standalone expansion pack of 3, while 3 is simply less content for less money. If you can wait for the Steam sale and don't mind paying slightly more, 4 is essentially a superset of 3, so I'd get 4. Although, in your case where you haven't played either one before, you can't really go wrong with either one.

Just loaded up 3. It seems to be the same game without the council and a few less buildings. I'd go with 3 since it's like 20 dollars less. Might catch 4 on the winter sale though.

I guess I'll get 4 then. 4 has been consistently discounted in each Steam Sale so I can wait for the Winter Sale then .

I was wondering the same thing when I happened on this thread. Good timing.