Tropico 6 came to Nintendo Switch late last year, granting a new lease of life to Limbic Entertainment's political management sim. In the Tropico series players take on the role of El Presidente , governing their island nation with a mixture of administration, corruption, and political manipulation.
While Tropico 6 mostly follows the classic Tropico formula, it also added a new way for players to interact with the rest of the world. Raids are special operations that players can organize to loot, spy on, or politically manipulate other nations. Before El Presidente can dispatch their raiders however, they'll first need to build one of four raiding buildings.
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The Pirate Cove and Commando Garrison
Much like classic 4X series Civilization, a single game of Tropico spans multiple eras of history. There are four eras in total: Colonial, World War, Cold War, and Modern Times. Each of these eras has its own Raid building for players to construct, the first of which is the Pirate Cove, which can be built in the Colonial era.
The Pirate Cove is a relatively-cheap building that is available right from the start of the game, but must be placed on the shore. The Cove gives access to 11 different Raids, most of which are focused around plundering resources:
Loot Raids will return with a selection of the three resources that the player chooses.
- Loot: Bananas, Hides, Iron
- Loot: Coconuts, Sugar, Wool
- Loot: Coffee, Corn, Gold
- Loot: Coal, Logs, Pineapple
- Loot: Fish, Nickel, Tobacco
- Loot: Aluminum, Cocoa, Shellfish
- Loot: Milk, Rubber, Uranium
Rescue Raids return with workers, either random or educated.
- Rescue: Any
- Rescue: Educated
- Rescue: Many
The Treasure Hunt gives either $10,000, a random Blueprint, a random Research, or 5,000 Raid Points.
- Treasure Hunt
The second Tropico 6 building for Raids is the Commando Garrison, which can be built in the World War era. As a result, it focuses mostly on military actions and intimidation.
- Intimidate Neighbors: Reduces happiness throughout the Caribbean by 5%.
- Guerilla Patrol: Reduces the number of guerillas on the island.
- Sabotage: Sabotage a Superpower, reducing the chances of them attacking you.
- Treasure Hunt
Spy Academy and Cyber Operations Center
Raids become less overt and more covert as players enter the Cold War era in Tropico 6. Fittingly the next Raid building is the Spy Academy, which focuses on Cold War espionage.
- Observation: Reveals the role of random Tropico citizens, reducing the risk of them become a rebel or criminal for the next 3 years.
- Provoke Rebellion: Provokes the rebels into making an attack.
- Espionage: Blueprint: Gain a random Blueprint.
- Espionage: Regime Tool: Gain a random Research.
- Espionage: Knowledge: Gain Knowledge Points.
- Treasure Hunt
The Raid building for Modern Times in Tropico 6 is the Cyber Operations Center. As the espionage of the Cold War comes to an end, the Modern era is all about making money through Tropico's trade and tourism.
- Market Manipulation (Export): Creates 10 export trade routes that are worth 40% more than the market rate.
- Market Manipulation (Import): Creatures 10 import trade routes that are 40% cheaper than the market rate.
- Fantasy Reviews: Post fake positive reviews of El Presidente's island on the internet, attracting more tourists of all kinds.
Raids are an essential part of the player's economy in Tropico 6, but they do require a little management to use them effectively. The best strategy for Raids is to use them to reduce issues that are more tricky to tackle in the long term, so that the the island as a whole can keep advancing into new eras.
Tropico 6 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.