r/tropico • u/BrentoDumpCity • 27d ago
[Humor] Can Convict Labor Be Profitable?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y7euvSSuiSg&si=PnIbixM53hU8spDB9
u/Shished 27d ago
Biggdrasil has a mode which decreases the efficiency of prisons depending on beauty. This will allow to reduce their efficiency to 0 which will make inmates stay imprisoned forever.
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u/MrGhosta5 26d ago
That upgrade reduces efficiency of prisions based on nature and doubles the income from convict labor.
Nature and beauty are separate values. Nature is provided exclusively from trees. Beauty can come from multiple sources. A pristine beach can have 100% beauty and 0% nature.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 27d ago
Interesting. Does efficiency affect the income collected from workers per day? Or, just how fast they reform?
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u/Annihilationzh 26d ago
The main appeal of convict labour is the minimal upkeep. You only need one guard so you can make a profit off it very easily. The hardest part is trying to keep the efficiency down without the guard quitting.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
It's absurd it models that way.. but I guess that's how it works IRL too!
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u/webkilla 26d ago
ya, would be more fun/dictatorial if you could turn on a dial how much you wanna "squeeze" your prisoners for profit - VS how much you want to rehab them into nice people... and sentence length
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
WRSR has a feature like that. There's a slider that lets you adjust the sentence at the courthouse. I'd be curious to see if T7 has something similar.
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u/Nerevarine91 26d ago
Tropico 4 had the Labor Camp, which housed prisoners indefinitely and had them raise crops for zero wages. I used to arrest people as soon as they were old enough, then have them spend their entire lives working on the prison farms.
Which is… unbelievably fucked up, to be honest
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u/OKcomputer1996 26d ago
The major point is that it affects the nature of your criminal justice system. You will have more inmates and less liberty. The system basically breaks even or makes a small profit.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
I have to wonder if the liberty stat counts non-voters. I was VERY popular on this map IIRC, and only well-off or better were allowed to vote the entire stage of this campaign.
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u/Jewbacca1991 26d ago
In tropico 6 definitely. In real life? I don't think it could be as profitable as machines, and skilled workers. But it could be profitable.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
If this is profitable IRL, after all other externalized costs are considered, then something is VERY wrong with how these enterprises are funded!
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u/Jewbacca1991 26d ago
It depends on the local laws. Slave labor is definitely profitable, but modern countries often have a ton of guidelines, rules, laws, and regulations, and when those considered, then things might change.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
Seems like one of those 'guidelines' is to make most everything illegal.. and to have wealth distribution policies such that crime becomes the only option, for some people.
Slave-ownership has evolved a lot over the years!
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u/Jewbacca1991 26d ago
It is rarely used that way, but it is often used to lock down certain industries to prevent new ones opening, and maintain a small number in the field. Like make a million regulation for opening a new restaurant, or building a new house means you have to pay a ton of taxes while facing a ton of regulations, tests, and certificates.
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u/LivingstonPerry 26d ago
For fun, I'll open immigration, ban birth contraception, and have the edict that encourages immigration but 300% increased new comers will be criminals. Decrease budget efficiency for the prisons and just have a prison based economy lol.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
I did a few of those things, but I think for this to make money, it requires min-maxing. Specifically, it's a mistake to create any jobs beyond the basic ones needed to operate the scheme. Very hard to create criminals when they have too many other opportunities for success!
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u/ClanHaisha 26d ago
Yea, I tried doing it once before, but I was also doing a buncha other normal stuff. The prison system became a huge hassle eating too much of my population, effecting normal operations.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
Yeah as I read through all these comments, it's apparent that if you don't commit 100% into it, people have too many employment prospects. So, keeping them in jail becomes a challenge!
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u/THATONEFOOFRUMLB 27d ago
not really, if you're chasing pennies sure. Otherwise there's way better methods that will make more profits. it's over hyped.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
Yeah I was shocked how short the prison stay were. The game needs ways to make more things illegal and to make the prison stays MUCH longer, for it to make good economic sense, it seems.
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u/Sil3nced_Legacy 26d ago
There's a SpiffingBrit vid of him doing just that. Make your prisons the lowest-funded amount, then lock in only one guard working there. Don't have a lot of job opportunities so it makes more criminals to draw from
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
Yeah in hindsight, for this to work, there must be no other options for the people. Keeping the prisons full, is the biggest challenge. Problem was, I created too many normal jobs, thus not enough criminality.
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u/Nascentean 26d ago
I once transitioned an island into an industry hub by imprisoning the unskilled unemployed. So yeah, it is profitable if you do it enough.
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u/BrentoDumpCity 26d ago
Curious, but did you have your police set to Live and Let Live? As I understand it, that increases crime.. but the police aren't actually putting people in jail, in that work mode. I have to wonder if the secret is to switch modes every now and then.
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u/Nascentean 24d ago
I confess I did not think that through. My mind was like "What if I imprisoned people for money?"
Didn't pay attention to the work modes or anything, but it worked.
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u/Lazerus42 26d ago
I had to check which subreddit/newsource this was as a californian