• from the Tropico Bonus CD.
• Edited for grammar and formatting.

Let’s now take a look at the Military and the Rebels.

The making of a Rebel.

When rebels are born they check a variety of things. The same is true when a rebel decides to become a citizen again.

• Happiness – The worse this is the more willing they are to go to the hills.
• Courage – If they are very courageous they are likely to rebel with push comes to shove, rocks and bullets.
• Young men – This is a trait that young men seem to exhibit in generally greater numbers. THIS IS NOT A Politically Correct simulation. Deal with it.
• Democracy Satisfaction – Have you been playing with votes or denying the demands for free elections? Then you may be a dictator.
• Small army or suppression is low – If you ignore it, it will come.
• The Tropican has no underage children – No kids, no guilt and more power to the people!
• Any Edicts – Some edicts directly target rebels or personal liberty. If you are dancing on this pin head then you should consider how it affects the previous points.

What rebels do most often is disrupt your daily life. They like to hit targets of opportunity, low risk and high irritation factor. If you have lots of rebels, don’t build airports out in the middle of nowhere trying to cut down on the overall pollution. This is like rebel candy, they can’t resist. At least they can’t unless you have a means to defend it. So, to keep the rebels away from the candy be prepared to build a guard post near such places. The farther a building is from an area of military control, the greater the likelihood of incurring a rebel assault on the unprotected building. Remember that to build Guard Posts you’ll need some Generals. More Generals mean greater risk of Military Coups. No, it’s not easy, but that’s the challenge of being El Presidente.

Police stations don’t help in rebel conflicts. Rebels fight soldiers, police fight civil disturbances and reduce crime.

Remember soldiers are MALES! It IS possible to help make them happy.

When your people decide to stage a popular revolt there is little you can do to stop the carnage. However, quickly up the pay of your soldiers and police at least, they have GUNS! This may have just enough effect to turn the tide in your favor.

In a military coup, upping the pay is also a good tactic and pretty much your only one.

If you have a Rebel invasion, well, just be sure you’re paying your soldiers well and hope the god of averages is taking a nap or that the Rebels overestimated their chances of success.

You can expect the USA and USSR to occasionally mettle in your affairs during a 50 year reign. This doesn’t have to cause you any undue stress when you understand that much of what they think of you is directly under your control.

After building a Diplomatic Ministry you’ll be able to pass super power-affecting edicts. If you check your current standing in the almanac under the POLITICS tab, you’ll get your first indication of where you stand with the USA and USSR. Your next choice is to decide if you want to side with either? The most lucrative stance is to be nice to both. Simple, they give you money and improve things in general. Unless you skew things drastically, you never really LOSE anything that you can not do without.

The biggest effect that can be generated is the Tourism bonus associated with the USA. This is because, if handled correctly, you’ll be able to generate great sums of money, this is a good thing.

Tourism is an interesting aspect to Tropico. Because it relies on all of your abilities as a dictator it is not the easiest economy to develop and even once established it is no simple matter to maintain.

Tourists come in three flavors.

• Low Class – This has more to do with interests and total money they have available to spend than true class structure. Economy Class may be a little more politically correct, but you know how we feel about being PC by now? These tourists are much less demanding and far more accepting than their opposite, the High Class tourist. Getting your tourism industry started using these people as your target is relatively simple and you’ll need little more than a Cheap Hotel, A Beach and a Pub to give them a REASONABLY good time. Remember, the happier they are with their vacation the more people will want to visit your island.
• Middle Class – They look like either class of tourist but their pocket book is a bit bigger than the Low Class tourist and their expectations take a significant jump over Low Class tourists as well. You’ll want a Medium Hotel, a Pub, a Restaurant, a beach and a Pool. However, the only minimum requirement is a Medium Hotel and some sort of other attraction. MINIMUM is none too good in building up the industry.
• High Class – These snobs are carrying more cash than the total cash your population has, probably. You must build amenities that these people are willing to spend their cash on. They are also much more sensitive to pollution, violence and the military on your island than either of the other tourist classes.

All tourist classes like variety in the attractions they go to visit. Multiple restaurants are good; however, if the tourist is not interested in FOOD as a primary interest they will not enjoy your island as much if you provided a stadium if they had a greater interest in sports. You follow the logic here? More to visit the more they visit. More they visit the more cash they spend.

In the end, you’ll probably want to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor? This will come in the form of your Swiss bank account. A good portion of your score can be earned through this “retirement fund.” If you chose to skew the score towards the Swiss bank account then it will account for an even larger portion of your overall score.

The fastest way to do this is to institute the edict Special Building Permit. Without constructing a bank this will get a small amount of cash trickling into your Swiss account with the construction of each building on your island, except shacks.

Building a Bank as early as you can afford it is also a good idea. This should not necessarily be the first building but it can help cut the costs of ALL the buildings on your island as well as generating cash for the Treasury or your Swiss account. Improve your island first but then consider Banking.

These are just some of the techniques budding dictators can use while reaching for their place in history. There are many others and they should be considered. Remember, on Tropico the people have their own agendas and do things the way they see fit. We only rule them at their will. Sometimes their will is supple like a young sugar cane and at other times their will is like the iron they scratch from the ground. You must determine what they will respond to and how.