Dev-Log #1: Making Tropico great again – The Improvements of Tropico 7
Dear Tropicans,
The greatest nation in history led by the one and only El Presidente will make its comeback this year with Tropico 7! The release date has been set to [REDACTED].
Before the launch of Tropico 7, the Ministry of Propaganda and Misinformation would like to shed some light on the features of the game and will be taking you on a mandatory tour through the development of the game. We have therefore kindly asked (and definitely NOT bribed) the devs at Gaming Minds Studios to share some insights into the improvements and features of Tropico 7.
To put the (banana flavoured) icing on the cake, we’re sharing some exclusive in-game material in this first Dev-Log – get your excitement levels up and prepare to be entranced by El Presidente’s new and unquestionable ways to make Tropico great again.
As El Presidente has so much more up his sleeve, this is just the first part about the improvements of Tropico 7. You can look forward to a deep dive into more features in the upcoming Part 2!
Agenda Part 1:
1) City-Building
2) The Political Matrix
3) The Constitution
4) Edicts
1. City-Building – with or without grid
Tropico 7 is not just a management and simulation game – it’s also a citybuilder! In order to establish the most beautiful Tropican paradise (and make El Presidente proud), we have improved some building features for this tremendously great sequel.
In Tropico 7, roads can be any shape and run in any direction – yes, curved roads and even roundabouts are now possible! You will be able to rotate buildings freely, and there are also ‘snapping’ functions which allow you to place buildings more easily along roads. We aim to offer something for all types of players: those who like to build in an orderly fashion, with everything at specific angles, or those who like to structure their city more freely. El Presidente thinks of all citizens' needs!
However straight roads can be useful, so when building a road, an icon will appear to show you when a road is truly straight. In addition, grid points are displayed on roads so that you can see, for example, how much space there is between a junction and the new road.
While staring in awe at El Presidente’s island, you might have seen the points that appear at the corners of buildings when you’re placing a road. These are displayed when you get close to a building. You should use them if you want to place a road as close to the building as possible.
When building roads, bridges and tunnels are constructed automatically where appropriate. However, you can disable both of these functions.
Tropico 7 also introduces scalable zones like plantations or botanical gardens, allowing you to tailor your city layout to your unique vision. You will also be able to place decorations (like trees) on green spaces, small parks or by the roadside.
Thanks to advisor Penultimo, we have acquired some leak- uhm, exclusive information straight from the dev team at Gaming Minds Studios:
If you want to build a new city district, you should always lay out the streets first. As the buildings can later be aligned with these roads, you can build in a very space-efficient and orderly way.
You should not build roads near an intersection, as this could lead to traffic congestion.
2. The Political Matrix – El Presidente’s eye of providence
Want to (legally) watch over the Tropicans’ political stance or your own political position as a leader? Say no more! Tropico 7 introduces the Political Matrix where you can do exactly that:
The diagram shows the political positions of your citizens, the factions and El Presidente. If a citizen is within a faction, they are considered a member of that faction and are influenced by it. It also plays a role in whether a citizen is a moderate, loyalist or fanatic of a faction. 
You can find and select every single citizen in the matrix, but the distribution of citizens is more important. The more citizens are concentrated in one area of the matrix or one faction, the easier it will be for you to align your politics with them.
You can also use the Matrix to see where the various factions are located and which Tropicans are members of these factions. Politically undecided Tropicans – those without faction affiliation – are also displayed in the center. (And are in urgent need of inspirational speeches!)
Through the newspaper, radio and TV station, you can influence citizens politically and move them around the matrix. In this way, you can make one faction smaller and another larger. The more citizens who belong to a faction, the easier it is to implement policies that gain widespread approval.
The position of El Prez is determined by the chosen Constitution.
3. The Constitution – Because pure benevolence changes nothing
Edicts and constitutions remain an important part of Tropico 7 – and are being expanded to improve the political system and modernize it.
From the World Wars era onwards, you can amend individual sections of your constitution once per legislative term, so between elections. In the Edicts & Constitution menu, you can select a pre-defined constitution on the left and then amend it as you wish on the right.
Every single constitutional option you select affects your position on the political matrix. That is why you will see a blue arrow next to each option, indicating the political direction of that option.
4. Edicts – Free ice cream for all!
Within the Constitution & Edicts menu, you can choose individual laws which you can activate in addition to the Constitution.
Each edict has its pros and cons, and some decrees are also subject to conditions – though fortunately, these only need to be met once.
As all edicts are located on the Political Matrix. You can only activate those edicts that have a similar political orientation to El Presidente (these are the edicts within the dotted rectangle). For example, you cannot enact a very left-wing law if you have previously chosen a very right-wing constitution.
For the same reason, edicts may be deactivated if El Presidente is moved on the Political Matrix as a result of a constitutional amendment.
There are, however, exceptions: If you fulfil the demands of political factions, you can receive a “faction deal” as a reward. You can use this to activate an edict that falls within a faction’s sphere but lies outside your political orientation.
Please note that the look of the Edicts menu is still work in progress (like names or icons). The team is also planning to implement a filter which enables you to focus on specific types of edicts – like edicts related to work or the police (Penultimo is still trying to write the code for this).
As you can see, the Political Matrix plays a big role in the gameplay. But that’s not the only addition – El Presidente has made sure to provide even more improvements so you can smoothly (and politely, of course) contro- UHM, manage your citizens!
This concludes our first dev-log (part 1) about the improvements of Tropico 7. We hope you enjoyed what we’ve shared so far and we can’t wait to dive deeper into other parts of the game and its development – the dev team continues to work hard on the game and have enacted the edict “Daily Hymn Of Praise” to shift their thoughts entirely to El Prez! (As it should be.)
Stay tuned for part 2, Tropicans and don’t forget to add Tropico 7 to your wishlist and show El Presidente your much appreciated loyalty!
Do you have any additional questions on the new features of Tropico 7? Leave your questions on Discord, Steam or any of our social channels!