Edicts are the way you govern your island in Tropico 6, from boosts to your industrial economy to providing better healthcare for your citizens. There are some Edicts that are worth your time, El Presidente, and some that probably aren’t.
Much of your island’s success will be based on your early game achievements. The very first Edicts you enact might be the difference between total domination and an economy that struggles later on. We’ll talk you through the best Edicts from each era, and when, and why, you should activate them.
4 Best Colonial Era Edicts
Out of the selection of Colonial Era Edicts, Employee of the Month is the most effective. If enacted at the right time, this edict can seriously boost your early-game industrial production.
The Employee of the Month edict basically doubles your factory and mine output by having workers take on double shifts. This is great in the Colonial Era for getting stockpiles of valuable resources. At a base cost of $350 a month, it’s definitely worth it to enact it whenever you can.
The only other Edict you might consider in the early game is Free Housing. This Edict will boost your standing with the communists substantially, ideal if you’re pushing for an early revolution. That being said, it’s expensive to pay for everyone’s housing. Such is life.
Lastly, Penal Colony can be an extremely useful Edict to get your island up and running quickly. It will introduce criminal immigrants to your island, boosting the number of citizens but reducing overall island safety. Should be used sparingly, but very strong if you get it right.
3 Best World Wars Edicts
During the World Wars, the Edicts get a bit more fun to play around with. There are a couple of good options here, including Wealth Tax, Agricultural Subsidies, and Industrialization.
First up, let’s talk Agricultural Subsidies. This is probably the best Edict available to you right off the bat (no research required) and will boost your overall Agricultural production massively. This is perfect if you’ve just come from the Colonial era with an island covered in plantations. The overheads of this Edict will stack up, and it will reduce your standings with the Communists. Worth it for the economy, though.
Wealth Tax won’t be massively important during the early stages of the game, but when you have more wealthy citizens on your island this provides a lot (A LOT) of cash. Watch out for the penalty to communist relations, though. You’ll need to enact another Edict, like the Free Housing edict from the Colonial Era, to balance it out.
Industrialization is another Edict that requires no research and can be activated as you enter the World Wars era. This reduces the overall cost of industrial buildings for two years but will set you back a chunky sum, to begin with. It’s still very useful if you want to transition into an economy more focused on factories and production rather than agriculture. It’s these sorts of strategic choices that place the Tropico games on our list of best-ever city-building games.
2 Best Cold War Era Edicts
The various Cold War Edicts are more focused on island-specific needs, like whether you’re building a tourist-focused economy or an industry powerhouse that shrugs aside the Environmentalist faction in favor of high-output, high-octane manufacturing.
Take the Good Old Days Edict, for example. This forces your citizens to start dressing up like their grandfathers, a bit of a weird one and definitely one of the more ditactorish things you can do in the game. However, everyone dressed up like the good old days boosts your tourism across the board, especially if you have forts and guard towers.
Alternatively, you could juggle the Experimental Ground Treatment and Mandatory Waste Sorting Edicts. Experimental Ground Treatment has you siphoning off some money to your Swiss account for every industrial building in town. Nice. You can balance it out with the Mandatory Waste Sorting Edict which keeps the nagging Environmentalists happy.
The Tax Cut edict is ideal if you think you’re about to face a hard election. Enact the Tax Cuts and you’ll make everyone happy, even the people who hated you a few moments before. Obviously, this has its economic drawbacks, so use it frugally to manage your approval ratings when necessary.
1 Best Edicts From The Modern Era
Much like the Cold War era, the Edicts from the Modern Era target very specific areas of your economy and island. Most of the Edicts here will impact one faction or another, so it’s a good idea to try and strike a balance.
Speedway is one of the best Edicts from the Modern Era. It improves the speed of transport across your island, including how fast your teamsters and construction teams are able to get where they need to go. When paired with the Advanced Boat Service Edict from the Colonial era you can have a very swift production line.
An Edict like Contraception Ban is very situational but can be powerful if you use it correctly. This Edict will increase the number of citizens being born on your island, supporting your economy with more workers. However, it will reduce your standing with the Intellectualist faction, and should therefore be used sparingly.
Lastly, Policy of Detente will allow you to dismantle rebellions before they begin, by producing a 50 percent chance that a leading rebel will return to normal activities. This should be used when the risk of rebellion runs high, something that becomes more common with the many interwoven factions in the late game.
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