3. Earning money Tropico 5 Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Farming and raw resources
Plantations, ranches, fishermen...
Farms have a particular size of their territory now
At the beginning o the game, Plantations and Ranches will be a valuable, but not the most important source of income. Every Plantation requires fertile soil and appropriate territory. If you don't provide this, its effectiveness will decrease considerably. The good side is that the fertility doesn't worsen (unless due to some other factors).
You can grow multiple kinds of crops on Plantations: bananas, corn, coffee, pineapples, tobacco, cocoa, cotton and sugar cane. Some of them are used only by citizens and some of them will support the development of industry, but every type can earn you money.
The best for this will be tobacco and sugar, although producing them is quite demanding. They usually don't want to grow where you would like them to grow.
Ranches require small territory and few people to work on them, but there's no use in building a lot of them in one place. Contrary to Plantations, a Ranch worsens the quality of the ground. However, if you demolish it, the ground will be ready to use again after some time.
The following products are made on Ranches: meat, milk and cotton. Meat and milk may serve as food for your citizens of course and cotton may be sold or converted into something else.
What's more, you can place a Wharf on the shore to catch fish from the nearest shoal. Fish are another type of food available on the island. The farther from a shoal, the worse the catch. Shoals expire but they regenerate after some time.
Minerals, wood and black gold.
Mines have one particular fault - their resources expire after some time.
No matter if for example 100.000 tonnes seems a lot, a well situated mine can exploit it in a dozen or so years.
Depending on the deposit, you can extract one of five kinds of minerals in a mine: coal, iron, bauxite (aluminum ore), gold and uranium.
Coal and uranium may be used for producing energy in the future. Bauxite, iron and gold will be useful in the industry as well.
Logging Camps however, if we provide them with the proper upgrade, will never expire their resources. Cut-down trees can be exported or
Later in the game, you will be able to exploit oil reserves using Oil Wells and use the oil to produce things like petrol.
Industry and Luxury Goods
When the colonial era ends, you will obtain the option of building real industry buildings. These buildings however, require qualified personnel, so building one or two High Schools will be necessary.
You should start with something small, for example a Cigar Factory, which will be using the tobacco from nearby Plantations.
Most of the products made on the island can be processed. If you have pineapples or coffee and some steel, you can produce cans with food in a Cannery. Having some cotton and wool from llamas, you can produce clothes in a Textile Mill.
Luxury goods, such as cigars, rum or jewelry, are available in the World Wars era and producing them also requires trained people. However, they bring much bigger profits.
Tourism
Tourism is available only from the Cold War era.
This area of economy is rather tricky, but once you get a grasp of it, you will earn a lot of money. Unfortunately, many of the buildings from this category are expensive.
Contrary to other ways of earning money where cash comes once every couple of months, tourists bring you profit continuously, as they rest in hotels and use various attractions. Money come rather slowly, but you can gather a considerable amount throughout the year.
Resorts attract all kinds of people. There are several categories of tourist and each one enjoys something else. Eco Tourists prefer to go on a trip to other parts of the island and Wealthy Tourists, to lay and rest in an expensive SPA. Families will enjoy an evening in the circus.