Spent all day playing Tropico: Where you are the El Presidente of a Carribean Island nation. It's a management type of game; get an economy up and running from minerals, vegetable, industry, keep your growing subjects and immigrants fed, working, and happy. I admire the game for its balance of complexity and the tongue and cheek moments: One measure of your score at the end of each "Reign" is how much money you managed to siphon off to a Swiss Bank Account. To build political consensus, you can also arrest and shoot charismatic opposition leaders dead in the street; you can also declare them a heretic. Also, if you choose "Alcoholic" as one of the two Personality Flaws of your dictator, the USSR has improved relations with you (although the Religious faction likes you less). The game allows you choose from a portfolio of famous such rulers (Castro, Che, Peron, etc, etc) and adjust the traits as you desire. The last lady I played with was Kleptomaniac; I think she was the Argentinian lady?

Speaking of factions: It's a good thing that environmentalists are generally one of the less numerous factions; really hard to pay attention to the environment when you're trying to keep up with housing and creating employment for a rapidly rising population. Often I'm forced to close the border to immigrants so I get a chance to educate the local populace first.

Until now I've played the benevolent Developmental Authoritarian State (Think 4 Asian Tigers) model. I provide my workers food, education, subsidized quality apartments (rather than Project Housing) to live in, Social Security, movie theaters, TV, nightclubs... and in return they reelect me every 8 years in consecutive landslides. I've never even had to rig an election or give a tax cut, which in the game is treated like a bribe; a short term boost to your favor best used in an election year for $100 to each member of your population. Only drawback to this is that your respect amongst the Intellectual community takes a big hit.

In fact, if you opt to receive kickbacks on construction projects, siphon money for Swiss bank, or are too enthusiastic about religion, the intellectuals like you less. No wonder all the Commie bigwigs and little wigs purged them; they're smart asses with a different opinion on how government should be run.

I'm only realizing now that the population (every tiny person has a name and background and personality) and jobs are genderized; the engineers who run your all important power plants have to be women, for example. Construction workers may be both genders. Union Teamsters who haul everything around have to be men. High school teachers have to be women, college professors men... but yeah, I'm not going to stir that up.

Given a choice between aligning with the USSR and the USA (either can invade you and end your reign resulting in game over if you piss them off too much) I usually go US; they give more generous foreign aid and provide Tourists, which is a whole other Economy I haven't explored yet. However, once you ally with them and let them build a Military Base on your island the USA starts demanding you conform to their ideals; usually, promoting capitalism with your Radio, News Paper, and TVs. Pompous, but the Russians have little dinaro to spare, so...

Naturally; in the absence of cocaine, coffee and rum seem to be the best cash crops for a Latin/Carribean island nation. Followed by Cigars, and then Pineapples, then Papayas and Bananas. Chopped down trees are sold as logs, lumber, or furniture. Typically, mining is the dirtiest but most easily accessible wealth, followed by industry... the more efficient it is the dirtier it is. Any environmentally friendly measures decrease industrial efficiency and increase expense. Al Gore would be proud.

I haven't been able to get the religious faction happy enough to invite the Pope, which is supposed to be a super boost to my popularity with that segment of the population; having an economy than was 75% Rum based was probably the cause. In this game, religious satisfaction is a trade off with freedom to get drunk.

Oh yeah, ways you can lose the game; you forget to pay-raise your palace guards or soldiers, they over throw you. The income disparity between the higher-educated earners and proletariat becomes ridiculous, they population turns rebel and goes into the woods and starts attacking your infrastructure. You don't feed or pay people, same result. USA or Russia invades you because you were hard on Capitalism/Communism in your rule, you lose.

It's a tough game of political survival and pleasing everyone. The best way? Have no principles, pander to everyone.