Revision 1

Every citizen in Tropico 7 is individually simulated. Players can select any citizen, wherever they are on the island, and view their satisfaction levels to see how that Tropican lives and what opinions they hold. The second dev log (August 3, 2026) explains the simulation and the satisfaction system in detail, and the third dev log (August 24, 2026) covers how citizens are animated. The heads of Gaming Minds Studios call the Tropicans "the soul of every island, the reason every policy matters". The game releases on January 28, 2027.

Satisfaction and elections

The better a citizen's needs are met and the more easily they can manage their responsibilities and routines, the more satisfied they are. That satisfaction translates into support for El Presidente in the next election. Food, health and work are the most important factors: the lower any of these three values is, the more it hurts the citizen's approval rating.

The ten satisfaction scores

Each citizen has 10 satisfaction scores. The second dev log describes nine of them in its overview, and its worked example shows a tenth, faith.

Base and dynamic satisfaction

Some scores combine a static and a dynamic value.

• Base satisfaction comes from the buildings a citizen lives near. Buildings have a radius of influence for food, consumption, faith, health and entertainment, and a citizen can only visit a building if they live inside its radius. Only the first building of a given type counts toward base satisfaction: a citizen living near three chapels gets base satisfaction from one of them. The dev log also says that the more different buildings of a given type a citizen lives near, the higher base satisfaction becomes.

• Dynamic satisfaction is set each time a citizen visits one of those buildings, based on how the visit went. For a supermarket this includes the building's service quality and food variety. Citizens who find the queue too long leave, which lowers their dynamic satisfaction.

• Extra buildings of the same type do not raise base satisfaction, but they add visitor slots.

Larger and more elaborate buildings have a larger radius. Citizens pick which building to visit at random rather than choosing the nearest one or the one with the shortest line. The developers say this keeps all buildings in use, so one is not overcrowded while another stands empty, and that it is meant to keep the game from being too easy.

A citizen's routine

Several months pass per simulation cycle, so Tropicans do not follow fixed daily routines. Instead they regularly meet their most important needs: work takes roughly a third of their time, and the rest goes to time at home with family and, depending on their needs, visits to doctors, supermarkets, places of religion and entertainment venues. Apart from home and workplace, it is impossible to predict exactly which buildings a citizen will visit next.

The dev log follows one citizen, Heidrun Martínez, who is married with two children, lives in a tower block and works at a distillery. Over one stretch she visits a church near home, rides the subway to a supermarket, works at the distillery next door, sees a doctor and goes to the cinema. Her satisfaction is good overall, but her faith score is lower because the church was full when she visited. The dev log uses this to show that not enough religious buildings were built near her home; a cathedral was not an option, as it requires a really good relationship with the religious faction.

Politics and citizens

Citizens also hold political views. On the Political Matrix, a citizen inside a faction's area is a member of that faction, as a moderate, loyalist or fanatic, while undecided citizens sit in the centre. Newspapers, radio and TV stations can move citizens between factions. See Factions and the Council.

Animation

The third dev log describes citizen animation as part of the simulation. There are 278 different animations for citizens and 10 to 30 animation points per building. Every animation step was recorded with motion capture by the studio's animation artist.

• Some citizens limp on their way to or from hospital.

• Children hop and skip along.

• Very elderly citizens move more slowly or walk with a frame.

• Citizens run away when armed troops approach or a building is on fire.

• Soldiers and firefighters have their own special animations.

• Workers change into work clothes at the start of a shift, carry crates, climb ladders and operate machinery.

• Visitors can sit inside a church or walk around its grounds.

El Presidente among the citizens

New in Tropico 7, El Presidente walks through the city on foot. According to the FAQ, he visits residential buildings and public facilities near the palace, waves to his supporters from a distance and threatens his opponents.