i love it!

Quote:what do people think the pencil drawn/stick figure-ish "buttons" are on the second tier above the mini-map?
population
diplomacy (?)
overlays (?)
journal

How about "Modes" for the Information Panel?

Control El_Presidente on map. Brand Newie!
Decrees. There are so many new ones that it takes a new handling area.
Managing the Island. Including the T1 Info (overlays) & Building modes.
Open Almanac. Per hint just received.

Ardanwen Wrote:... Ah and from the German forum:

Timo Wrote:Das Menü rechts von der Minimap lässt sich per Rechtsklick ein- und ausklappen. Wird es nicht benötigt, klappt es automatisch ein, so dass man freie Sicht auf die Insel hat.

O.K. - guessed wrong about the Almanac. But it was in the spirit of "fun" discussion.

If you are going to quote from the German forum, don't you think it would be kind to give the translation also?

"The menu to the right of the Minimap can be minimalized and expanded by right-clicking on it. When you don't need the menu, it is automatically minimalized, so you can have a clear view of your Island."

Something like that I suppose.

Ardanwen Wrote:"The menu to the right of the Minimap can be minimalized and expanded by right-clicking on it. When you don't need the menu, it is automatically minimalized, so you can have a clear view of your Island."

Correct. Except it will expand/close on any right-click anywhere on the screen. No need to click the menu itself for this functionality. Sorry for not disclosing this bit of info earlier, the Tropico 3 beta going on right now is keeping me busy ... ^^

Timo Wrote:

Ardanwen Wrote:"The menu to the right of the Minimap can be minimalized and expanded by right-clicking on it. When you don't need the menu, it is automatically minimalized, so you can have a clear view of your Island."

Correct. Except it will expand/close on any right-click anywhere on the screen. No need to click the menu itself for this functionality. Sorry for not disclosing this bit of info earlier, the Tropico 3 beta going on right now is keeping me busy ... ^^

Aha, thanks
Ah yes, don't forget to send me one of those invites!

Ardanwen Wrote:Ah yes, don't forget to send me one of those invites!

Sure, if you don't forget to transfer the sum we agreed upon to my swiss bank account ... ^^

You'll get that when the game is released, remember?

i see now it's been a while since i've played. i said diplomacy, not edicts and journal, not almanac

I'm so bored to raed all the 2 pages of comments. Even if it's made with map editor it looks marvelous. I give you a challenge to build such a city in real gameplay. That will show how hardcore tropico dictator you are.

Nobody has really answered whether roads will be a sort of default requirement for island-building or if they're optional.. I could live with it but I don't want to buy the game expecting one thing and discovering another.

Why don't you just make a thread about it so people know you asked the question. people don't exactly read these things you know.

El Meck Wrote:... still no idea what the blue building with the two towers is about.

There are all over the place, some quite close together. One thing is very probable - they are not churches because they have no crosses on them.

I speculate they are government buildings of some sort:

1. Police Station
2. Armory
3. Clinic
4. Bath House / Public Laundry
5. Elementary School / Child Care Center
6. Urban Recreation Center
7. NOT a fire brigade station - no big doors & too many of them
   

Some day we will know.

mee Wrote:The first couple of maps are in the shape of a footprint. ...

Good observation!

That seems to indicate that the terrain was not randomly generated by a map generator such as T1 used. Rather it indicates (very clearly IMHO) that the map was hand drawn by someone in the art department. Maps sculpted by hand tend to have a lot of very level space and strategically placed piles of rock for decoration.

Examples based on such terrain make me wonder about what T3 is going to provide for random maps. Will it be on random terrain generated as T1's was? That is, with slopes to the ground all over, hills virus piles of boulders, and other semi-realistic geology/ geography? Or will it be simply random selection from a library of decorated pancakes from the art deparment in the style of the ANNO series? When the island looks like a footprint, it makes me nervous.

Razael Wrote:There are no people in the streets, because the screenshots are taken during the night while the people sleep in their apartment buildings.

Excellent chuckle -- if no newbie takes it seriously.

Nice screen shots!

I for one like the new concrete around the buildings and roads and things. What always annoyed me about T1 was the fact that buildings just looked like they were built on the grass, and I could never make a city look like a city (no matter how backward said city was). Esp as those dirt roads were all I had. Fine for shacks, but all my lux condos looked rubbish! I want to be able to have a somewhat modern downtown area (with all the important buildings) and a backward rural area. Afterall, who would build a cathedral or a sports stadium and have it with a dirt road coming up and build it so the current vegitation is all around. No, these buildings shout out 'modern/developed state' and should have a modern infrastructure to go with them (even if it becomes run down pretty quickly). This looks like building a city and making it look like a city will be much easier.

Careful, Richmond, you'll be accused of citybuilding tendencies :-)

Ardanwen Wrote:..., but perhaps it could also be a more worked out version of the (I can't remember the name of it anymore) "eye"-menu of Tropico 1?
While in Tropico 1 you'd only see colours to see happiness-rate etc. This appears to be the same now, as you can see in the first screenshot, but now you also get exact figures next to that.

The white text in screenshot 2 looks to be from the admin/dev console.. That's something you won't see in the finished game. It's as you say, the screens are most likely made in a test-version.

Lyubo_Haemimont Wrote:*Uses the Force* You saw no white text floating messages

The almanac is not presented in the screenshots, but you can see the icon that activates it (above the speed controls).

I write too slow ...

Yes indeed, I missed widely on a couple of points.

The "eye" icon was for the "Info" Mode/menu. I suspect that it was the least understood and/or used of the mode/menus - except for discovering mineral resources. To refresh your memory, the information was presented as Overlays to the map which could be seen at any zoom -- to change between the general and the particular. They for T1 are:

• Ground / Terrain / Area
• Buildings - themselves, not their effects
• People (units) with floating colored arrows over them (freighters also had them in some circumstances)
  

The example showed the building employment level. There seems to have been added warning messages about buildings with no employees - if the player is to see the red text above the mini-map. (I apologize for my limited experience which did not tell me that the white text was from a restricted "console".)

I can not but hope that T3 keeps all the overlays of T1 even though many players do not utilize them frequently or to the best advantage. Perhaps someone who will write a guide for advantageous use of the overlays.

Richmond Wrote:... What always annoyed me about T1 was the fact that buildings just looked like they were built on the grass, and I could never make a city look like a city ... I want to be able to have a somewhat modern downtown area (with all the important buildings) and a backward rural area. ...

Yes, it's too bad that T1 had only one style of road. One player characterized it as a "trail of money shit", and many agreed with him. There were also pictures posted which showed actual Caribbean island roads that looked much like T1's road.

As to buildings being "built on the grass", I'm sorry that you did not discover that the road - poor looking as it is - could be built under buildings. In some settings such as the Port and the Mine, doing so speeded things up. Additionally, some people appreciated being able to plant flower beds, etc. close to buildings to accentuate the tropical ambiance of the build-up area.

Not everyone can recognize a modern downtown area only because it is entirely paved over with just a few scattered palm trees to indicate that it is not Archangel in the summer.

I am wondering if flower gardens and bushes are to left out of T3.

assen Wrote:Careful, Richmond, you'll be accused of citybuilding tendencies.

Nothing wrong with building cities so long as they have some vestiges of vegetation -- or else a lot of public bath houses / latrines.

Lots and lots of pancake flat ground all nicely placed helps too.

You are clearly spreading rumors in an atempt to destabilise this forum. You are probably a pawn for those foreign capatlist pigs. For secrutiy reasons you will have to be 'silenced'.

Perhaps that more in line with the Tropico mentality?

Seriously though, I did know I could build roads under buildings (but not buildings on roads!). However I never liked doing it as it just made the building look like it was built on mud. I did like the plants near buildings, to create nice views. I hope T3 keeps the desirability for housing, so puting down nice scenary makes the quality of the house go up.

I think really it comes down to choice. I would be surprised if a city with a sports stadium and a cathedral would not have at least some modern roads. Esp if there is an airport and heavy tourism. But if the player wants to keep that rustic backward look then that should be allowed as well. I personally like the idea of being able to have modern roads and pavements and things. Of course only when my island is wealthy enough to support such things (often El Presdente will build a stadium with fancy roads and stuff just to show of his power to the foreigners. everyone else nearby lives in poverty).

Building the airport in T1 was always a mission if there was any vegetation or sloping land. It would take years. Realistic to a point, though if I am so wealthy it would be nice to bring in some foriegn contractors.

Incredible! I can't wait until september.

Btw, is it just me, or is it now possible to build a zoo? I think I spotted one in screenshot nr.5.

Quote:zoo?

i presume it is unless those damn tropicans eat elephant meat!! they looked like farm animal corrals until i saw the elephants!

Im surprised nobodys noticed this or if they have they havn't said it. But how come these were taken at exactly the same time as the the ten new screenshots demondstrated by this picture http://forum.kalypsomedia.com/attachment.php?aid=122 of the interface and this photo from the new screens posted on the tenth of june http://forum.kalypsomedia.com/attachment.php?aid=97 if you dont believe me look at the location of the cars every car is in exactly the same spot so if the interface is new how come its exactly the same picture just a different angle. by the way el prez said about a zoo these are his words

Damn! The foreign intelligence has discovered our secret plans to construct a zoo.
1:33 AM May 7th from web

btw, what's your point? that we've been duped? that they're using old screenshots and telling us they're new? it's probably something as simple as the first shot was art work (developed first) and the second shot is the same art work with the added UI.

thats probly it but theve been saying there screens of the actual game for a while

maybe they just decided to release the interface later.... why is it such a big deal?

its not i was making a point.

CoconutKid Wrote:

El Meck Wrote:... still no idea what the blue building with the two towers is about.

There are all over the place, some quite close together. One thing is very probable - they are not churches because they have no crosses on them.

I speculate they are government buildings of some sort:

1. Police Station
2. Armory
3. Clinic
4. Bath House / Public Laundry
5. Elementary School / Child Care Center
6. Urban Recreation Center
7. NOT a fire brigade station - no big doors & too many of them
   

Some day we will know.

Actually it's a Dock!

mee Wrote:its not i was making a point.

Right o ^_^