Eras in Tropico 6 Tropico 6 guide, tips
Last update: 08 April 2019
In Tropico 6, you will find four eras that occur one after another. They are Colonial Era, World Wars, Cold War, and Modern Times. Each era features unique rules and challenges. Below you will find a detailed description of each era encountered in the game and what requirements you must fulfill to unlock it Depending on the mission and the parameters you choose before starting a sandbox game, you don't need to always play in all eras.
Colonial Era
The Colonial Era is the earliest era in the history of Tropico. You aren't an elected leader yet. Your term of office is appointed by the Crown. It means that your fate as the leader depends on whether you complete the tasks given to you by the Crown.
What you must do in order to unlock the era?
Nothing. It's the first era in the timeline.
The Colonial Era characteristics
The Colonial Era is the most basic era in Tropico 6. During it, the number of available buildings is small and the people have limited needs. At this phase, it is easy to make some preparations for expanding your nation in the future.
In this era, you can construct farm and breeding buildings and ones that exploit natural resources. The easiest way to gain money in this era is by placing Rum Distillery and Lumber Mill. The first one uses sugar that can be produced on a Plantation set in the proper work mode. The second manufacture building enables you to produce boards from logs obtained from a Logging Camp. Boards can be additionally processed in the World Wars era into ships in Shipyard.
Avoid placing Mine. Natural resources deposits aren't infinite. In the late eras, you can use them in factories to produce goods that can be sold for more money than the basic resource. The more resources you have then, the later you will have to use import.
The edicts you can use in this era are useful later as well. Because of that, you should place a Library and start gathering resource points. Then use them on developing two edicts. The first one is Advanced Boat Service. After activating it the boats entering the ports will be faster and their capacity will increase. This will increase the effectiveness of your ports. The second edict is Employee of The Month. It will enable all workers of Mine and industrial buildings to take double shifts. This will increase productivity.
During the colonial era, it will be easy for you to keep people happy. In this era, the needs of citizens are rather small. They mostly require access to food, some entertainment and some housing buildings.
The hardest thing during the colonial era is remaining the ruler. Your job as the governor is determined by the term of office. If it ends - you lose. Because of that, you must complete all requests from the crown until you reach the World Wars era. Completing requests expand your term of office.
World Wars
World Wars is the second era in Tropico 6 chronology. It will force you to stand in the middle of a conflict between the forces of the Axis and the Allies.
What you must do in order to unlock the era?
During the Colonial era, your relations with the revolutionaries must reach at least level 50% and the numbers of this faction must be greater than 60% of the population of Tropico. The easiest way to achieve this objective is to complete tasks received from Sofia Ortega.
Once the conditions are met, you can either buy your independence or fight for it with the forces of the Crown.
World Wars Era characteristics
The World Wars is an era in which the voice if your citizens have some theoretical importance. Since you are no longer under the influence of the Crown, you now are an elected leader. You can organize the elections regularly or decide not to do them at all. A Ministry will be unlocked. This building will enable you to assign five ministers. Depending on which faction members you will appoint, you will gain different profits. Additionally, as an independent nation, Tropico has its constitution. It enables you to modify various aspects of life in the country.
Not all constitution options are available since the beginning. Some are unlocked in specific eras, others must be obtained through research. All information about the constitution can be found in the dedicated chapter.
At this point proper education of your citizens becomes important. This is caused by increased demand for educated workers. More advanced production facilities, medical facilities or public facilities require workers with a specific level of education. Because of that, placing a High School [1] and College [2] is required. If you placed a Pirate Cove then you can additionally perform action: Rescue: Educated. It will bring a few additional qualified workers to the island. Otherwise, you will have to pay for bringing workers from beyond the border.
In this era transport through the islands will be improved. You will gain access to bridges that will make it easier to trade resources between various islands of the archipelago. Additionally, you will gain access to tunnels that will enable your citizens to move through mountains.
The needs of the people rise as well. From now on, their happiness will be impacted by fire dangers and by healthcare. The requirements in other categories will be higher as well. You will learn about the quality of specific categories by using the City tab in the Overlays menu.
Electricity will be unlocked. You will be able to use coal to produce electricity in a Power Plant. This will enable you to place advanced buildings and upgrade cities in order to increase the happiness of your citizens.
Since this era, you must take care of your military. Bad relations with one of the superpowers will trigger an attack on your island. At first, the enemy will only destroy buildings scattered across the archipelago, but later they will focus on the palace. Destruction of the palace will mean losing the game. Because of that, you should place military buildings close to the palace to secure it from destruction. Additionally, you can also use the constitution and select the Militia rule that will enable non-educated workers to join the army. This will reduce the effectiveness of your forces, but will greatly speed up the process of gaining soldiers.
Cold War
Cold war is an era during which you will find yourself between two superpowers - the forces of the West and the Eastern block. This era features less novelties than its predecessor.
What you must do in order to unlock the era?
In order to enter the Cold War era, you must ally yourself with the Axis or the Allies. In order to do it, you must invite selected superpower to the Embassy. Then, you must achieve a specific level of support so that an alliance option becomes available. You can do it by completing tasks received from selected power.
Once you decide to sign an alliance, you will receive a new task that will prove your friendship with the superpower. Once you complete it, the opposing force will attack you, so be sure that you have a strong enough military.
Cold war era characteristics
This era doesn't introduce many novelties when compared to its predecessor. It only unlocks more advanced industrial buildings. New objects that have a greater impact on various aspects of citizens' welfare become available as well, for example, a Hospital.
The greatest novelty in this era is the fact that tourism becomes unlocked. It enables you to generate additional income from the visitors to the island. However, the visitors are very picky when it comes to the aesthetics of the area. Tourism buildings should be located far from industrial buildings. The best option is to assign a separate island for tourism.
The society will have new requirements as well. This time it will be safety and freedom. You must open the City tab in the Overlays menu and determine where to place a Police Station and media buildings. Additionally, you should develop the Media Independence constitution right. This will enable you to increase the effectiveness of your media buildings.
As for the research unlocked during the Cold War, Alternative Food Source is very useful. This research enables you to reduce the lack of food for two years in the time of crisis. Two years is enough to focus on expanding the food industry and securing the situation.
The last thing you must start taking care of is pollution. In this area, you will receive tools that enable you to control it. Garbage Dump can be used for that. It enables you to gather pollution in a single place. Additionally, you should develop Mandatory Waste Sorting. This edict will reduce the amount of pollution generated by residential buildings.
Modern Times
The Modern Times is the final era in Tropico chronology. This time you will face a few superpowers. They are the United States, Russia, China, the Middle East, and the European Union. This era gives you the greatest possibilities.
What you must do in order to unlock the era?
Progress towards the Modern Era requires taking one of three paths - the political, nuclear or tourist. Depending on the chosen path, you will get another task, for example, in the case of nuclear, you should build a Nuclear Power Plant and develop the Nuclear Program.
Modern time characteristics
In this era, you have access to all buildings and their improvements available in the game. Thanks to that, you can improve the effectiveness of your industry and reduce its negative impact on the island.
In this era, you can become independent from the quality of the ground on the islands. You will gain access to advanced farm buildings. They require access to electricity and qualified workers. However, you can place them wherever you want.
You will also gain access to renewable energy sources and to Nuclear Power Plant that will provide you with electricity while reducing the amount of pollution.
You will also gain access to the most luxurious hotels that can fit more tourists. If you issue Legalized Substances edict, then you will increase the tourism quality, attracting more tourists.