Tropico 4: Megalopolis DLC
Tropico 4: Megalopolis DLC system requirements
- OS: Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Vista / 7 (32 or 64-bit)
- Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core CPU
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: Shader Model 3.0 (Geforce 6600 or higher, Radeon X1600-Series), 256 MB, DirectX 9.0c
- DirectX®: 9.0c
- Hard Drive: 5 GB free hard disk space
- Sound: DirectX compatible
- OS: Windows Vista / 7 (32 or 64-bit)
- Processor: 2 GHz Quad Core CPU
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Shader Model 3.0 (Geforce 8800 or higher, Radeon HD4000-Series or higher), 512 MB, DirectX 9.0c
- DirectX®: 9.0c
- Hard Drive: 5 GB free hard disk space
- Sound: DirectX compatible
Reviews
Megalopolis is the 5th tiny stuff DLC and this time it allows content from Modern Times expansion pack into mission. The only tiny DLC that does it, if I remember correctly.
The missions seemed to be fun. You are given points for every working person with home, which means that you will have to deal with mass immigration or you can also get more points by "bribe" (costs money) or doing small side-quests, all under time pressure. At first I thought that it will be a better version of Dry Cement DLC mission, making you build a huge city. As you can expect, my attempt at beating this mission that way failed and I just decided to build your usual strong economy and then just bribe your way to victory.
So nope, still not going to challenge you in a new way.
As for new building, it's Conventillo. A house made of garbage stuff, that was painted to make it look awesome. It has as many slots as Temenents, but it starts with awesome 80+ service quality and then slowly lowers down to be just a bit worse than Temenents. You can repay full price to fix it back. Sadly it costs more than Tenements or Apartament and USSR Development Aid edict doesn't cut down price of this DLC building, making it less of a good choice.
This DLC comes with a new mission, Megalopolis and a new building, Conventillo. The mission is fun to play but not the new building. The quality of this building degrades over time and makes the game slightly more challenging.
A few extra features, traits and campaign, not something to jump up about, it’s nice but not worth full price, if you like Tropico 4 then get on sale or as bundle as will give some chuckles, thumbs hmm!
Another bite-sized bit of content for Tropico 4, the Megalopolis DLC doesn't even give you new scenery items; just a building, a trait, a mission that I'll get back to you on, and a fancy outfit.
This time around, the building and trait aren't entirely stupid. The Conventillo, based off a kind of lower class residence in Argentinian cities, is basically a costlier Tenement that takes up more space. It has a higher housing quality than even Apartments, but it degrades over time and must be repaired for $3,500 a pop to raise its quality back up.
It has an interesting look and is a decent way of ensuring high housing quality, but you don't want to build too many of these or else you'll either spend more on upkeep than you should - or the micromanagement will slip your mind and your citizens will start grumbling. They cost more than Apartments and the USSR won't give you subsidies for them, either.
Meanwhile, the trait just provides bonuses in areas where it's nice to have them: lower housing costs and higher Building Permit bonuses for your nascent kleptocracy. It's kind of a no-brainer if you plan to focus on your Swiss bank account or have a high population.
The best summary I can give is that it's not bad if you're a fan of this particular entry in the series. A $3 MSRP is the upper limit of how much this ought to cost in the first place, so you should pick this up on sale if you want it.
Actually a helpful, useful building with a neat concept (quality degradation over time, so much so that they added it to the Tenements in Tropico 5). It's expensive at first, but houses a huge number of citoyens. Very useful for sudden mass migrant events or in concert with the Chinese Immigration edict from Modern Times. The repair costs aren't too high and usually they don't need to be repaired more than once per mission unless you're in a sandbox. Apartments are still preferable but when it's 1951 and you need housing for 20 new immigrants, the Coventillo is a worthwhile investment that starts with very high housing quality, taking many years to reach Tenement levels.
Another one where the price is its downfall, but it's in-game use is good
Conventillo has a pretty ugly graphical glitch on MacOS, making it unusable. Unless you don't care about your city looking like shit , that is.
So don't buy it.
I think this DLC was good, but not great. The new trait and avatar are useful, the Conventillo I do not like using at all. The recurring maintenance costs are a pain. The new mission was ok, but could have been a lot better. I felt a real building and time crunch at the start, but quickly ran out of missions to do for points and was forced to use the bribe option several times to win it. Also I had the Modern Times DLC on which I think made the mission much easier since all of the modern buildings are so good.
They rape you with all these dlcs. but i ended up getting them all they should have been a buck each so keep that in mind when reading these reviews ill still give it a good review just because i liked the game regardless.
The mission is very well done, the new building I almost never used since there are better options all around.
-The conventillo is not a good addition to this game because you have to renvate it and there is no notification even when the quality has degraded to it's lowest. Also, the communist faction will ask you to build some in every mission you play.
-The building permit edict should have been in the base game.
The mission is fun but keep in mind you will need to use bribes in order to win.
I recommend this dlc only to people who really like the base game and/or perhaps to people who want a mission that challenges you to build a really beautiful island.
Also, only buy this dlc when it's on sale or as part of a bundle.
Great dlc. Adds some content. Although not as much as the others. It would be better if it was given away for free. It is worth taking in a pack with the rest. To be honest, I don't even remember how useful it is. Like almost always, the add-on adds a little bit of everything.