PopTop Software Inc. is a premier developer of computer strategy games. PopTop has dedicated
itself to create exciting games that everyone can enjoy - easy to learn, hard to master, lots of
gameplay value, and minimal violence. In 1998, PopTop released Railroad Tycoon II, and several
follow-ups and ports have followed in the last 2 years.
Who is Phil Steinmeyer?
Phil Steinmeyer is a programmer and game designer who founded PopTop Software in 1993. He is
the creator and designer of the game Tropico.
What is Tropico all about, anyway?
In short, Tropico is a builder/city planner-oriented computer game with some political
overtones. It is about exercising influence on people to make them happy, or, failing that, to
repress them and/or otherwise keep them from tossing you out of office.
Is Tropico a "software toy" like Sim City, or will there be goals?
In most cases, the goal will be simply to stay in power. However, there are scenarios,
such as build up your population to 500 people in 35 years, or have $10 million dollars in your
Swiss Bank Account in 20 years.
How many characters will be available?
Right now there are 46 human units (a.k.a. characters or citizens) in the game.
Will each of the island's citizens be identical?
No. Each person in Tropico will have a distinct personality based on fifty separate
attributes. The various citizens will have different political views, physical desires, home
lives and moral attitudes. Each of the fifty characteristics for your Tropicans will affect their
behavior and their relationships with each other.
Can I give my citizen's unique names?
No. You cannot give the citizens of the island individual names. They will each have a unique name randomly determined from a database
Do I control my citizens' actions?
You don't tell your people to go about their lives directly. Instead, you must provide
incentive to do the things you want them to do, like pay better wages, bribe or provide amenities
they want.
Can my island population exceed 500?
The programmers have set the limit at 500 for performance reasons. That's still up for
change if testing reveals the need to limit them more or the room to expand.
How do I increase the population of my island?
You cannot directly control population. Initially, you're given an environment with a small
population of thinking, feeling and motivated people. You introduce things into their environment
to get them to act. For example, you may introduce a Contraception Ban, which may increase the
birthrate of your island. Or you could affect Tourism to attract more tourists to your island.
Can I increase population by creating more citizens?
You never create characters, you only influence people. Unlike Age of Empires, where you
"make a villager" or "make a cavalry unit," in Tropico you have a birth rate and immigration.
Children grow up, go to school, and become whatever appeals to them based on multiple factors,
and can change at any point if they so desire.
How will I know what my citizen's are thinking?
Characters in the game will think iconically so that you can see what they are thinking about doing in the world. When they need to go to work, rest, eat, go to church, be entertained, etc..., you will see a thought balloon over their heads with an appropriate icon. They can also think political thoughts. In the character detail panels, you can see specific, written thoughts of a selected character. (Like"I want to go to church," or "I'm really depressed about the state of our military.")
Will Tropicans live forever or will they eventually die of natural causes?
They will die of natural and directed causes.
Will Tropicans live in family settings?
Yes. They will have nuclear and extended families. This is important for reasons like
arrests and assassinations, as these types of things will impact the entire family even if
they don't "see" it happen in the game world. Normally, those Tropicans which can draw line
of sight to these types of events will react to the deed.
Can Tropicans form bonds with other Tropicans? (i.e. friendships, relationships, etc.)
Other than marriage, no, though they can agitate each other.
What will affect a character's attitudes?
Many different elements affect the citizens' attitudes, including: birthplace, education
level, economic background, and their overall background, whether he or she has adequate food
supply, shelter, money, happiness with their employment, entertainment, etc.
What type of jobs can the characters have?
Employment is sorted into three main categories: uneducated, high school, and college. Jobs
that would allow uneducated citizens include the following: dockworkers, farmers, miners, and
prostitutes. Jobs that need at least high school education include: shopkeepers, teachers, and
priests. Lastly, jobs that need college level education include the following: generals, bishops,
bankers, doctors, and journalists. All citizens in their job will start off with a skill level 0,
and they will be able to work their way up to a skill level 5
(or less, depending on their intelligence).
How many buildings will be available?
Approximately 60 different types of buildings will be available. Some of these types will have multiple variations, and others will have upgrades available.
Do I have any control over the buildings I create?
Yes. You will be able to modify your buildings in ways that affect your population (i.e.
set wages, prices of goods, etc). An example of how you will be able to modify a building is
through newspaper, radio, and TV stations. You'll be able to determine what type of programming they play daily. For example, you may chose to broadcast religious TV shows to make the religious people on your island happy. Or perhaps you'll broadcast political propaganda to help soften any negative impact your policies may have.
Will the buildings have any characteristics?
Each building has an ‘aura’ associated with it that emanates outward. The six auras are crime, tourist appeal, residential appeal, governmental respect, governmental repression, and pollution. In addition, buildings will have individual settings to control wages, service fees, quality of service, etc. Some buildings will also have upgrades available.
Will the layout of buildings have any affect on the citizens?
Streets and buildings are placed as you see fit. This may not seem like it's important other
than for aesthetics but it will have a major bearing on how the game will play. Distance to work,
market and entertainment will effect industry efficiency and expose your people to other influences
that may be harmful to their opinion of their dictator.
Will Tropicans ever construct buildings on their own?
There is just one building that a Tropican will build by himself - a shanty. This is a barely
adequate bit of shelter that they will create wherever they can find space if you do not provide
adequate housing. Living in a shanty for any length of time will make a Tropican angry.
What disasters can occur on your island?
Disasters can include popular revolution, military coup, rebellion and foreign intervention.
Will external politics be factored into the game?
You don't deal with other countries besides the USA and USSR. To establish contact with
either of these foreign powers, you'll need to build a foreign ministry.
What are the benefits have positive foreign relations?
Benefits of friendly foreign relations include better prices for trade goods, possible money grants or loans, and possible military or political support.
What type of weather will be in the game?
It rains, and that determines in large part the soil quality and what crop types can be grown.
What characteristics will my dictator have?
You will be able to choose the type of dictator you wish to play. You will "create" your
dictator, choosing from various qualities and flaws, as well as background and rise to power.
Depending on how you design your dictator, you may have an easier or more challenging time
running your island.
What flaws can I choose and how will they affect my dictatorship?
There will be about 20 flaws to choose from. Some examples of available flaws are:
Flatulence, Alcoholic, Womanizer, Moronic, and Compulsive Gambler. As an example, a Compulsive
Gambler might get caught spending the government's money on a bad night at the craps table, or
often losing money from their Swiss Bank Account.
Can a dictator lose power?
You can be tossed out of power by a rebellion or military coup. It's based on your popularity.
If your people hate you, they will rebel. If your military hates you, they will stage a coup.
Foreign powers can also topple your government if pushed.
How long will a dictator be able to reign until they are required to retire?
A dictator will never be forced to retire by the game.
Will the dictator age?
No, the dictator is ageless.
What political factions will exist on my island?
The political factions, derived from the individual worker traits, will be Military,
Religious, Intellectual, Environmental, Capitalist and Communist.
What form of government will exist on the island?
In the game, you don't simply declare a form of government. There "can be" elections if you want, and you control how military the island is, how oppressed the people are, which country you affiliate with, etc. So you really kind of create the government you want. The political atmosphere of the island, as you dictate by the edicts you enact, influence your people, which in turn influences output. There are "communist" or "capitalist" type edicts you can enact, but you don't declare yourself as one or the other.
What natural minerals can be found on the island?
Tropico has Gold, Iron and Bauxite for natural minerals. These can be used to ship out of country for cash in native state. Gold can also be brought to a jewelry factory for refinement into a more valuable commodity (jewelry). You can also chop trees for export or refinement. Some crops can also be processed into more valuable goods (rum and cigars, for example). You can even utilize the natural beauty of your island for tourism.
How do I pass a law or edict?
The ability to pass an edict will be based on which buildings you have already built and
whether you have enough money. In return, the edict may influence certain factions in ways that
must be considered.
How many edicts will be available?
There will be approximately 35 to 40 edicts.
About how many minutes will a normal Tropico day be in regular time?
It will pass by quicker than "real-time." Time passage is still being modified so it's
impossible to say what it will be.
Does advancing time affect gameplay?
Time is rather ambiguous as it's not true time. Although time passes, it doesn't change
technology or world events. For the purposes of reference and attitudes, the game is set in
1950's-70's. If you play till 2000, the Soviet Union will still be in power with the Cold War
in full swing and people still using the same industries.
What about the economic aspects of dictatorship?
There are basic resource operations like logging and mining that offer low profits. If
you're willing to invest time and money into building infrastructure, you can begin to trade
in industries. The industries will process raw materials from resource operations and turn an
even higher profit. Tropico also has a tourism model that will pour money into your economy.
Will I be able to make money through the drug cartel?
Poptop decided early on to exclude all drug-related issues from the game. You will, however,
be able to make money from "questionable" means, like cabarets or nightclubs.
Can my island have a golf course?
No, golf courses are no longer a part of the game.
Poptop decided early in the project that Tropico would not have multiplayer, in order to
make the single-player aspect more robust.
What resolutions will Tropico support?
Tropico will support 800x600, 1024x768, 1200x1024, 1600x1280 and potentially 640x480. Switching between these settings happens "on the fly" at the touch of a single key.
Does Tropico use the same graphic engine that was used in Railroad Tycoon II?
Tropico uses a new generation of the S3D engine (S3D is Railroad Tycoon II's graphic engine).
The trucks, planes and ships will use full 3D models, as will air and water animals.
What other features will be available in regards to the game's appearance?
There will be a rotating map, deformable terrain, 3D objects, and high-resolution sprites (rendered at 3200x2400), as well as anti-aliasing. 3D acceleration will also provide a higher level of transparency and smoother anti-aliasing on some computers.
Since Tropico uses the Railroad Tycoon 2 engine, will there be scenarios?
There will be scenarios, but no campaign. There also won't be as many
stand-alone scenarios as there were in RT2. However, in their place, PopTop is making the
random-scenario generator much more robust. You will have the ability to fully edit scenarios
and set the parameters for randomly-generated games.
Will there be a map editor?
There will be a map editor. It will work differently than the one in RT2 to some extent,
though it is still being created, so the extent of the changes are not certain yet.
Can I import images into the map editor ala Railroad Tycoon II?
Probably. While it has not yet been implemented, players will most likely be able to load .PCX files into the editor to base their map off of.
Will I be able to save games in progress?
Absolutely. Games can be saved and loaded at any point.
Will there be speed settings in Tropico? (Eg: Fast, medium, slow)
Absolutely. Right now there are 6 settings including pause, though that is not necessarily final.
Will there be different difficulty levels?
Yes. Tropico will offer a wide range of difficulty levels. At the easiest level, you may
never actually lose a game if you manage to stay in power. Harder levels may require you to
satisfy certain goals within a limited timeframe. Difficulty is based on many factors set up
by the player, such as your character attributes, island size, political stability and many more.
How difficult will the game be to learn?
Tropico will have a bell-curve shaped learning curve. It will go slow as you figure out the ropes, then you'll start to learn things really fast for a while, then you'll have to work to "master" the fine touches.
Will Tropico be expandable over the Internet at all?
There was some talk of this, but it's looking more unlikely at this time.
Will there be add-ons or downloads available after the game is released?
There will certainly be downloadable maps available - both PopTop and user created.
However, additional characters and buildings will not be available for download.
PopTop expects the game to be available in April of 2001.
Is there a Tropico demo available?
Poptop plans on releasing a demo of Tropico on, or around, the 7th of February, 2001. Keep checking the PopTop site for it!
Will Tropico be translated into any other languages?
There will be foreign language version of Tropico made for other major languages, based
on perceived demand. They will be released as soon as they can be developed after the English
version has been finished. There will, for example, be a German version, a Spanish version, etc.
At this point, however, PopTop cannot answer questions on which specific languages will or will
not receive a version.
Will there be a Mac/Playstation/Dreamcast/etc. version of the game?
The game will initially ship for the PC. There will also be a Mac version shipped soon
afterwards. No other platform conversion can be discussed at this time.
Is there a newsletter I can get my name onto?
No, there is no letter at this time for either Tropico or PopTop. We update our site once a
week with previews, new information, and interviews, and we invite you to drop by periodically. In addition, there are several well-made and active fan sites you can visit. Links to these sites can be found at the bottom of this FAQ, or by going to our Tropico page and scrolling down.
What about a beta-test?
Beta-testing format has not yet been decided. Please wait until Tropico has made an official
statement before asking to be a beta-tester.
