Having played the game for about 200 hours now, I am going to say this: The people saying that Communism is OP in the game is very much a self-report rather than a genuine take on the game.
I have had runs where I deliberately try to become Communist just for RP purposes, and I never have it work out. Either I almost get there and have a revolt to take the government back to an older Capitalist stance, or I just dont have any momentum to pull it off. Because why would my people do it? If anything, the games I have had CAPITALISM is the OP one. My people have frankly absurd standards of living, have been making tons of money, and have been living reasonable lives, and therefore are not open to radical changes in government (sometimes to the point that I cant even change minor laws because "Its fine as is").
The only way these people can get Communism probably means they are keeping their people in low conditions so they demand radical change, or they just got lucky.
Also, it probably also means they are keeping the price of products high, because other people I have seen on the forums say that Communism worked great...right up until prices started falling and their command economy crashed with it because their government lost income. I have had no such issue with Capitalist runs, and in fact have managed to get to a point where people could buy everything they wanted for reasonable prices while I still had significant export.
Haven't had Victoria 3 yet, but any time I try Communism on Tropico 3, it requires me to start a police state and deport all of my political enemies to keep the bloated welfare state afloat.
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating. The game doesn't allow for free-floating wages, so wage controls are defacto. I've nearly blown up my own economy because I forgot to manually give raises on occasion. The effort to desperately maintain universal healthcare, universal housing, and wage equality, requires me to intentionally destroy all but the most profitable industries, and have them run the entire economy. Anyone who is not profitable, needs to be removed.
This actually meant I had to bulldoze farms because farmers were way over-paid and had a cushy lifestyle compared to my oil industry, but if I did that, I'd get a revolution, so I had to round up the peasants and "deport" them first. Depopulating my island was a great idea in order to preserve the welfare state that had built up, since it was the only thing maintaining my political security. Wage equality required me to round up and kill dissidents and depopulate the island to keep my political security in check.
Victoria at least has some advantage in that regard as it does have free-floating wages (although like I said, it is currently unoptimized and due to be patched in the near future). But you as the government can institute wage controls and welfare....which I usually see as the moment people cite as their economies beginning to die, as wages get so high its virtually impossible to keep business profitable without subsides, which further eats into their profits and gold reserves.
So they have to start raising their taxes. And when that is not enough, they have to start taxing goods. And when that still isnt enough, they have to go get colonies, which pay taxes without using your institutions. And when that still isnt enough, you start looking at your neighbors to try and bring them into the fold, and....oh wait, this is all starting to sound very familiar.
Meanwhile, my Capitalist, Liberal society has profitable business, my workers are making just as much, if not more, money even without wage laws, welfare exist for a very select few of the population that deserve it (like the elderly), and even with taxes minimized I am still collecting more than I know what to do with because my Capitalist are funding everything due to their profits meaning I dont need to pay for construction. And of course, I am making a killing selling excess items for export, and importing what I lack.
Having played the game for about 200 hours now, I am going to say this: The people saying that Communism is OP in the game is very much a self-report rather than a genuine take on the game.
I have had runs where I deliberately try to become Communist just for RP purposes, and I never have it work out. Either I almost get there and have a revolt to take the government back to an older Capitalist stance, or I just dont have any momentum to pull it off. Because why would my people do it? If anything, the games I have had CAPITALISM is the OP one. My people have frankly absurd standards of living, have been making tons of money, and have been living reasonable lives, and therefore are not open to radical changes in government (sometimes to the point that I cant even change minor laws because "Its fine as is").
The only way these people can get Communism probably means they are keeping their people in low conditions so they demand radical change, or they just got lucky.
Also, it probably also means they are keeping the price of products high, because other people I have seen on the forums say that Communism worked great...right up until prices started falling and their command economy crashed with it because their government lost income. I have had no such issue with Capitalist runs, and in fact have managed to get to a point where people could buy everything they wanted for reasonable prices while I still had significant export.
Haven't had Victoria 3 yet, but any time I try Communism on Tropico 3, it requires me to start a police state and deport all of my political enemies to keep the bloated welfare state afloat.
Raz0rfist was right
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating. The game doesn't allow for free-floating wages, so wage controls are defacto. I've nearly blown up my own economy because I forgot to manually give raises on occasion. The effort to desperately maintain universal healthcare, universal housing, and wage equality, requires me to intentionally destroy all but the most profitable industries, and have them run the entire economy. Anyone who is not profitable, needs to be removed.
This actually meant I had to bulldoze farms because farmers were way over-paid and had a cushy lifestyle compared to my oil industry, but if I did that, I'd get a revolution, so I had to round up the peasants and "deport" them first. Depopulating my island was a great idea in order to preserve the welfare state that had built up, since it was the only thing maintaining my political security. Wage equality required me to round up and kill dissidents and depopulate the island to keep my political security in check.
Victoria at least has some advantage in that regard as it does have free-floating wages (although like I said, it is currently unoptimized and due to be patched in the near future). But you as the government can institute wage controls and welfare....which I usually see as the moment people cite as their economies beginning to die, as wages get so high its virtually impossible to keep business profitable without subsides, which further eats into their profits and gold reserves.
So they have to start raising their taxes. And when that is not enough, they have to start taxing goods. And when that still isnt enough, they have to go get colonies, which pay taxes without using your institutions. And when that still isnt enough, you start looking at your neighbors to try and bring them into the fold, and....oh wait, this is all starting to sound very familiar.
Meanwhile, my Capitalist, Liberal society has profitable business, my workers are making just as much, if not more, money even without wage laws, welfare exist for a very select few of the population that deserve it (like the elderly), and even with taxes minimized I am still collecting more than I know what to do with because my Capitalist are funding everything due to their profits meaning I dont need to pay for construction. And of course, I am making a killing selling excess items for export, and importing what I lack.