Greetings!

I've decided to try out Tropico 4 vanilla (I've got it as a freebie back in august) to see the difference between it and Tropico 3, which I quite like, and I wanted to decide at a later date to get the DLC pack for it if the base game gets my attention. The weird thing is, that it seems I already have the Modern Times DLC installed with the game. I have the Modern Times main menu theme, I can see the 12 mission campaign that comes with it, I can start it just fine, already got to a point where I can build the new buildings - the supermarket precisely. I'm sure I don't have the DLC pack for the game and I don't have and see any additional DLC content from the pack, just Modern Times. If I understand correctly, you can't get the DLCs separately at GOG.

So... how is this possible?

I also got the Tropico 4 freebie a while back, but I only got around to installing and playing it recently.

It would seem that GOG gave those of us who got the freebie a special version of the game that is, at least currently, not available on the store, because it did indeed include the Modern Times expansion but none of the other DLC content.

I was puzzled by this myself at first, since GOG does sell a complete DLC pack that also includes Modern Times. I did some research to find out what [url=http://tropico.fandom.com/wiki/DLC_(Tropico_4)]all the DLC[/url] adds to the game, and I decided that there were some things added in DLC that I really kinda wanted. In particular, I like the Plantation and Cement Factory. Plantations are a better version of farms for the cash crops, and the Cement Factory is an industry that doesn't require any resources. It speeds up construction times and produces a small but reliable amount of cement for export.

Since you, like me, already have Modern Times, I would say that GOG's DLC pack is not worth the price unless you wait for it to be on sale, like I did. Since you already have Modern Times, $15 s a bit much to pay for the other 10 DLCs, since for the most part they each add just one new building, character trait, and mission, with a few other miscellaneous items. Unless you really, really want one or more of them, wishlist it and wait for a sale. I got it recently for $6.44.

I was willing to spend that much, especially since I got the game for free. And I guess if you think of it in those terms, getting the game for free and paying $15 for the DLC means you'd still only be out $15 for what is essentially the Complete version.

If you do buy the DLC, either full price or on sale, just be aware that it gets added to the Tropico 4 entry in your games library, at least if you use the offline installers like I do.

EDIT - Forgot to mention, from what I've seen while reading about differences between entries in the series, it sounds to me like for older versions (meaning I don't know anything about Tropico 6), Tropico 4 seems to be considered sort of the definitive version. It almost seems like the developers took Tropico 3, cut out what didn't work right or wasn't enjoyable, polished what was left, and released it as a new game. If you look at screenshots of both, they're nearly indistinguishable.

When it comes to Tropico 5, it seems like the consensus is that it's just Tropico 4 with some new stuff added that isn't well implemented, and it breaks or dumbs down stuff that actually worked fine in Tropico 4 (like setting wages or rents, as one example). I feel quite lucky to have gotten T4 for free, because I have looked at the series on and off for years without actually buying, and I feel like GOG gave me the best entry in the series for free.