CotN vs Tropico

[iamzeus]

I've been wondering what's been going on to the city building genre since there hasn't been much since Emperor and was pleasantly pleased to find CotN. You can bet I'll be there to buy it the day it is released.

Looking through the interviews and screenshots I noticed some similarities between the premise of CotN and Tropico: individual citizens with specific needs and wants who can become upset and dismayed depending upon how you rule.

Will there be factions in CotN as there were in Tropico? What are some of the other major differences?

[Nero Would]

Will there be factions in CotN as there were in Tropico? What are some of the other major differences?
There has been no mention of factions so far, so I suspect there aren't any.

Of course, different types of people will have different interests. So an action you take might please the rich people and anger the poor people, or please the potters and anger the scribes. This could result in a change to your prestige, or to the wealth of the city, which would appear to the the result of the attitude of these ad hoc "factions".

[satsui]

I thought the idea behind Tropico was great, but when I played a demo of the game, I was confused at first, but then I started to figure it out. The idea behind personal factors is awesome, and gives the game a great challenge. It's one thing to build a running city with a lot of wealth, like as in Sim City, but the idea that each citizen has their own personal opinions, is whole other story.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

Tropico 2 is surprisingly similar to CotN. It is hard to describe, but they have something in common.

Although factors probably aren't in CotN..

[Eddy]

I just hope there aren't any rebels. I hated rebels in Tropico. On one fansite for Tropico, my hatred became part of the forum. People would be given ranks based on the number of posts they had. At 100 posts, they became rebels. One day, I was frustrated with the game and one of my online friends had just reached 100 posts. I had been watching Animal House and jokingly posted that I gave him an initiation ceremony to rebelhood that included paddling. That became part of the forum for a couple years, with me gradually inventing more drawn out stories that became a delight for the people to read.

Maybe there should be rebels after all, so I can have some fun.

[Mouzafphaerre]

How's Pete doing Eddy? :D

[JDF]

Hopefully CotN will not employee Tropico's construction workers! ;)

[Bradius]

I think there are definitely going to be some things in CotN like Tropico, but that can be said for a lot of city building games. The popularity issue will definitely be there. The productivity relative to distance they need to travel will definitely be there. However, in CotN, I am sure it will be a lot more complicated. People in one house go several places, so the various distances will be different and will affect the family's productivity in a more complicated manner. One thing I will be glad to see go was the manditory retirement after 50 years! I love playing my creations, and do not like to be sent away once I have things running well :mad:

[JDF]

After all that work one should be able to enjoy one's creation as long as it will last; all your life! (at least in theory)

[Nero Would]

After all that work one should be able to enjoy one's creation as long as it will last; all your life! (at least in theory)
Sounds good to me. Of course, as the game can potentially last thousands of years, I would rather make it a rule that my life should last as long as the game ;)

[JDF]

Thousands of years?

I feel bad enough being as old as I am!

I don't think I could handle being a living mummy. :p

[Bizkit]

CoTN and Tropico. So far you've only been talking about gameplay similarities. What about graphics? I read that CoTN will be using the Empire Earth engine. In my opinion, the one used in Tropico is way better, even though it only allowed 4 points of view (the 4 coordinates), compared to the full 360 degrees allowed in Empire Earth. Why switch to full 3D when the old "4-point view" worked perfectly so far? I've always dreamed about a combination between Pharaoh and Tropico, involving gameplay and graphics. Couldn't Tropico's graphical engine be used, with some slight adjustments? The lines in Empire Earth were really bulky and pointed, compared to Tropico's much smoother appearance.
Also, from what I saw in the screenshots, the city looks really dark and muddy. More like a large village. Pharaoh (it's the first game that comes in my mind when talking about ancient Egipt) had a much more happier and brighter approach, and you could really build the city of your dreams. Well, if the graphics would have been OK. A human being was the size of a house. Glad to see city builders are finally working that out.

So. Is there any chance Tropico's looks will be used? Perhaps it could be sorted out with the creators of Tropico. Pop Top software, if I remember correctly. Or was it Top Pop? Heck knows. I'm waiting for comments/answers.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

Quite a few people think this, and I would have agreed, but then; why buy something that looks almost exactly the same as Pharaoh?

Another aspect of the graphics is very similar to Tropico in CotN and I have only noticed it. Check the user interface. It has three rows of information along the bottom (like the buttons in tropico), the minimap is round, and it goes up the right-hand side a bit.

I may get a bit of a shock when I play CotN and try and build something from the population bar. ;)

[Eddy]

How's Pete doing Eddy? :D

He's just as piratical (and pungent) as ever. He had a family reunion at my house. Imagine 30 squawking parrots. Now make them pungent. Now make them the shifty sort that you don't put out the good china for. That was how it was.

My silverware is missing, the liquor cabinet was looted, and I don't want to know what they did to the neighbor's cat.

In other words, they had a good time.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

I only just bothered finding out about the edicts in CotN, making it even more like Tropico than I first thought.

[Bizkit]

If only they'd take Tropico as a model for graphics.. *sigh* That engine must be one of the best ever (both for RTS's and CB's).

[Josh]

I only just bothered finding out about the edicts in CotN, making it even more like Tropico than I first thought.

If your talking about that dumb thread I started and not something on the developers main site, just because we say it doesnt mean its so. as far as I know there are no edicts of any sort... only take stuff as fact if it comes from a Tilted Mill worker (...or keith)

[Bizkit]

If Keith's music (breathtaking, by the way) is used in TM's games, then he works for them. So he's their worker as well. Right?

[satsui]

CoTN and Tropico. So far you've only been talking about gameplay similarities. What about graphics? I read that CoTN will be using the Empire Earth engine.

What the hell does Empire Earth engine have anything to do with graphics? Just because COTN uses the EE engine doesn't mean they use the same graphics, if we did, we'd have those ugly block-looking citizens instead of the beautiful citizens in COTN. The monkey's would be little tanks, it would be cute.... lol.. nevermind, just ignore everything I said.