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#Game: Prison Tycoon 4 #
#Author: Joyel Puryear #
#Email: contributions(at)videogame-contributions(dot)com #
#Network Site: http://www.infotechnologist-network.com/index.php #
#Business Site: http://www.infotechnologist.biz #
#Gaming Blog: http://video-gaming-interest.blogspot.com/ #
#Systems Covered: PC #
##################################################################
Note: For the email address replace "(at)" with "@" and "(dot)" with
".".
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=Table of Contents=
===================
1) Table of Contents
2) Version History
3) General Information
4) Gameplay Information
A) Story
B) Basic Advice
C) Hot Keys/Keyboard Shortcuts
5) Frequently Asked Questions
6) Flaws
7) Contributions
8) Copyright
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=================
=Version History=
=================
Version 2.2 - 07-15-09
----------------------
- Added email address, and information in contributions section related
to that email address.
Version 2.0 - 07-14-09
----------------------
- Reformatted the way the version history section looked. I was writing
another walkthrough and thought of a better way to format my general
walkthrough template so I updated this walkthrough accordingly.
- Rewrote multiple sections.
- Renamed "guide" to "Gameplay Information" and added the items underneath
it, as sub-items in the table of contents to allow people to get around
easier.
- Pulled the Frequently Asked Questions out of the "Gameplay Information"
section and put it into it's own section.
- Move the "Version History" above the "General Information" section to be
inline with the updated form of my general walkthrough template (the
template I use to model my walkthroughs after).
- Added "Table of Contents" entry into "Table of Contents" because it's
technically a section.
- Put new line markers in between each section to give the walkthrough
better readability.
- Added a new sub-section under "Gameplay Information" called
"Hot Keys/Keyboard Shortcuts".
Version 1.8 - 07-12-09
----------------------
- Fixed up the header some (typos, and other problems)
- Added some stuff to the header
- Rewrote multiple sections.
Version 1.6 - 02-01-09
----------------------
- A few sections (quite a few) were rewritten.
- Added some new sections.
- Updated some old sections.
- Reformatted some of the sections.
- Lots of spelling and grammar fixes.
Version 1.3 - 01-24-09
----------------------
- Added new contribution and section pertaining to that contribution.
- Added a few other minor changes and fixups.
Version 1.3 - 12-31-08
----------------------
- Final primary release.
- All content added in and fleshed out.
Version 0.8 - 12-31-08
----------------------
- Added tons of new content and sections.
- Massive content updates. I have done tons of research about various.
aspects of gameplay I didn't previously know. This resulted in the guide
becoming much more useful.
Version 0.5 - 12-31-08
----------------------
- Initial release of the walkthrough
- Minor information about the game
- FAQ section (this'll be the most important)
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=====================
=General Information=
=====================
About Me
--------
I have a variety of hobbies. I play video games, read comics, program,
do IT related stuff, read fantasy/fiction/sci-fi stuff, write, and a few
other things. One of my hobbies involves writing walkthroughs, and
contributing various things online (like on Gamefaqs).
I generally play video games between 15-40 hours per week (atleast).
I also have an obsessive "Scholar" personality. I seek knowledge in all
forms with everything I do. I also get heavily involved in games and seek
to get a perfect game in every single game I play, no matter what the type
of game.
Code of Walkthrough Writing (and other contributions)
-----------------------------------------------------
I have a strict code of content when it comes to writing walkthroughs. I
don't want to waste my time writing/re-writing/editing stuff that has already
been written before multiple times. There is a difference between
"contributing" and "rehasing". I want to "contribute". That means I want to
add stuff that has not been added before, cover stuff that has been been
covered before, or recover stuff that has been covered before (but I don't
believe has been covered well enough). A lot of times I won't write a
walkthrough on a game simply because there is already a walkthrough on
gamefaqs that already covers everything there is to cover about the game.
In those cases if I have something to add I add them into the cheat system on
gamefaqs as a submittal. I only write a walkthrough when I really have
something to contribute to the community. Generally if there is a
walkthrough already written about it, I won't write one. If I feel I have a
lot of stuff to add that wasn't already covered, or I feel it wasn't covered
properly then I will write a walkthrough even if there are 20 already
written. It all depends on if I have something to contribute that will not
already be covered, or covered properly.
I am an expert gamer. There isn't anything within any game that I do not
have the ability to complete. That is the reason I write walkthroughs when
I am in the mood..to help other people be able to have the help they need.
Especially when they are in parts of a game where they are stuck.
Tycoon Games
------------
The typical population of gamers consider any game with "Tycoon" in the
title to instantly be a bad game. The reason behind this is based off
the fact that there are many (hundreds) of games with the name tycoon
in the title. Generally these games are put together very quickly and
in great number.
Very few of them are worth playing. However don't assume that every game
that has "Tycoon" in the title means it's a bad game. Most of them are
thrown together very quickly. However some of them are truly good. For
example Prison tycoon 1-4. The first one wasn't great but it progressively
-has gotten better with each game and here we are with the 4th one. It is by
far a great game. However it is a good game, it is worth playing, and it'll
keep you busy an average of 8+ hours. Maybe even as many as 20-25 if you
really do find something good to do with it. The free play is very open
and really let's you feel some of what it's like in a prison.
So it won't win any game of the year awards and it probably won't keep you
busy for an extended period of time...but however it will be a fun experience
and it is definitely worth playing.
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======================
=Gameplay Information=
======================
Story
-----
There really isn't a story. It's considered a "Simulation" game and they
very rarely have much of a story if any. This one has really no story.
Basically you are simply the owner of a freestanding prison. It does not
officially say it but basically it's like you are the owner of a private
prison. The government grants you a grant for a certain amount of money
which you use to buy whatever lot your prison will be built on as well as
some startup money (however much money you have). Basically your prison is
either empty at first (free play) or already partially built (Challenge
mode.) That is it. You start at "Low" security and you just have fun
building and running the prison.
Gameplay
--------
Gameplay is handled via a tactical interface and a gameplay screen. The
tactical interface is used at the bottom of the screen which has all of
the commands, build options, map, and everything else. The purpose of the
game differs based off which situation you are playing in. There is free
play and challenge mode.
Free play mode is going to be pretty basic. The idea is to play how you want
to for fun. Basically the idea is going to be to get your security level to
max. It goes from "Low", to "Med" to "High", and finally "Max". Each
different level of security unlocks new buildings, internal construction
options, and various other features.
Challenge mode works the same way as free play. Except you start off with
certain things already prepared in your prison as well as a certain set of
situations. Then you are given an objective (challenge) which you can
complete in order to continue on.
Those are the basics of the two modes of play.
Basic Advice
------------
Basically you always start off as a "low" security prison. Based off of
the amount of security related services the security level will rise. It
goes in the following order: "Low", "Med", "High", "Max" and with each new
level you are given access to more and more buildings, functions, and
construction related concepts.
Basically you need to setup your basic stuff. You need places for the guards
to sleep, you need places for your staff to sleep as well as general
services. Places for the guards, stuff for the prisoners to play in and
everything else.
When you have all the basic prison up and running start the timer. When you
get up to where you have some money build some stuff to get your security
level up to the next level. From that moment forward it is just about
raising your security level, upgrading the facilities, and building new
things that become available...all the while dealing with the prison issues
at hand (that are explained by your advisor's during gameplay).
Hot Keys/Keyboard Shortcuts
---------------------------
Below are a list of currently know hotkeys and what they do:
+---------------------------+
| Hotkey | Description |
+-----------+---------------+
| B | Build Menu |
| 1 | Speed Change |
| 2 | Speed Change |
| 3 | Speed Change |
| f | Finance Menu |
| m | Map |
| n | Demolish |
+-----------+---------------+
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=Frequently Asked Questions=
============================
1) How are prisoner's assigned a security level?
A: The game assigns there security level to either "Low", "Med", "High", or
"Max". The security level identifies how much of a security threat they are
to other people and the compound as a whole. The following factor determines
what the game set's them too:
* There prison sentence
* How violent they are
* How many fights they get into
* What they got put in prison for (This is not shown to you unfortunately)
* How many times they have attacked a guard
* How many times they have tried to escape
* There general personality traits (if there more violent by nature)
* Most importantly how many times they have been in jail.
2) How do you utilize the maximum security compound that you get on security
level "max"?
As listed in question number one I explained how the computer automatically
assigns a security level. Well basically if a prisoner is assigned a
security level of "max" then the computer does a check to see if you have
purchased a max security compound. If not then they assigned bed areas in
the highest security place you have. If you do then the prisoner's are
automatically sent to the max security compound. They cannot be assigned
there unless the computer has assigned them as max security. Now that is how
the computer decides who goes to the compound or not. As for the compound
itself all you have to do is click on a guard on the map screen (same way
you assign prisoner's to sleeping quarters and work stations) and assign a
guard to that max security prison. Then he will go out there whenever he
is on active guard duty and he will open the doors to let them out in the
courtyard of the max compound as well as feed them there food for the day.
He will repeat this action everyday so affectively this compound takes care
of itself. If you do not assign the guard then after awhile the prisoner(s)
will die.
3) What is the death row compound for and how do you use it?
A) I have completed my own of research on this. I have found that some
max security inmates automatically end up being assigned to death row. At
first I thought this would mean there sentence of death would be carried
out. However they just sit there....and sit there...and when there sentence
runs out they just come up for parole again. I have all three types of
death penalty devices installed into the same compound plus enough cells to
hold 4-5 prisoners. I do not think the act of putting a prisoner to death
or them getting put to death is in the game...perhaps it's just another
area for storage of prisoners who are.."High" threat. If anyone has ever
had any occurence of a prisoner being put to death in anyway using the
death row facility please let me know all the details.
4) Escape attempts...what are they and how do I deal with them?
A) Basically it happens randomly (generally the first prisoner to make
the escape route is one that was unhappy). So far the only way I saw for
them to escape was using a tunnel. In order to cover the tunnel use a guard
and have them walk over to it and click on it and they will cover it up.
If there are watch towers around the areas where the prisoners try to get
away then chances are they will be shot (and in most situations killed) if
not then once the first prisoner get's away more of them swarm and try to get
out using the same methods...get a guard there as soon as possible. As far
as I know a tunnel is the only method they can use to escape..and as far as
I know they only create a tunnel if one of the prisoner's get's angry enough
or unhappy enough (and sometimes this'll happen no matter what you do).
5) Facilities and things not working...why?
A) Man..this was a tricky one. I had a pretty decent sized prison. It was
really big actually. I had gotten up to max security. I was in the first
freeplay map. I went ahead and built me a max security prison area as well
as death row since I had just got them unlocked. They worked fine for a long
time then I did some work and found out that it wasn't working anymore. I was
getting super-mad at the game thinking it was a glitch. A few years went by
and I noticed NONE of my max security prisoners where using there max area
and also that the place was getting super dirty (the max-pen facility was
down to 0% clean). So...I got one of the cleaners and manually told them
to go and I watched them and they got near the area to go up and stopped..
they turned around and went to do something else. I noticed I had a security
office there and that's where he stopped. I tore it down and built it
somewhere else and then suddenly tons of prisoner's started heading toward
the max pen not to mention 6-7 janitor's to finish up the jobs that I had
qued over there 4 years earlier. So the issue was if you build something
and don't watch where you build it..it might prevent people from getting
into the building and it might potentially keep them from passing into an
entire section of the prison.
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=Flaws=
=======
In this section I explain what I think are some of the negative aspects of
the game. Things that I think greatly detract from the games overall value.
Lack Of Space
-------------
The first is obviously lack of building space. Not only have I seen these
complaints all over the internet but I have also realized this myself.
When you get "really" addicted and you have a max security prison and are
ready to start expanding and getting new facilities you find you are severely
limited on space. If you get to where you might potentially want to continue
playing there will become a point (due to lack of room) where there is
nothing you can do (whatsoever) except for monitoring what is already there..
..Well this is a problem.
How to solve this problem do you ask. You can only solve it within certain
limitations. Basically.....2 words: Pre-Planning, and Reconstruction.
Before you start you need to survey all of the buildings...you need to build
in a cohesive manner and organize things very carefully. That will only get
you so far. Aside from that you are going to need to work towards
reconstructing things as needed. There will be a lot of times where you need
to tear down a few older buildings for newer buildings. Upgrade things. I
normally for standard buildings, switch Old Building for new each time. Until
a specific building I end up needing two of and I try to get the two upgraded
buildings of whatever type so they can hold more. I also try to centralize
them into there own areas (except me personally I try to keep the death row
and max pen seperate from the rest of the facility).
Here is another example to overcome this issue. You can do some things..like
sacrifice some comfort for more room. If you get "Dormitory 2" and use the
"2 bed set" item to setup about 8 different sets. So that is 2 prisoners
per set..16 prisoners for one "Dormitory 2". If you do this over 2-3 times
you have tons of room. I basically have 2 "Dormitory 2" then one of the
cells so I can have some "2 person" rooms for medium security and high
security prisoners. If you don't have those then the higher security
prisoner's cause more problems...they need to be in housing that is the same
level or so as there current status or they get upset. If they are in high
then they get mad easier if they are only medium or less security threat. But
if your careful then just 3-4 standard buildings can get you to near 100
potential prisoners. Same thing with the Mess Hall 2. If you setup Mess Hall
2 you can have the food producer 3 system which will take over say the
left wall then have about 4 tables of the largest size...you'll never have to
worry about eating size again and you can do it all in ONE mess hall without
having to make 2-3 different messhalls. It all takes planning to be able
to get the space needed. Same with the part. If you have the lowest level
part and your on medium security destroy it and make the second "bigger"
part and load it down with stuff. Then when you get the third tear down the
second one and rebuild it with the larger model...this prevents you from
keeping 3-4 of the same building/structure that is not needed in most
situations.
There are some buildings that are going to need more than 1 complex. Like
security building..to have more stuff. Same thing with the admin complex
and especially having staffing quarters in there or if you get too many
staff members they will be pissed that they have no place to sleep.
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===============
=Contributions=
===============
The email address is: contributions(at)videogame-contributions(dot)com.
Replace "(at)" with "@", and "(dot)" with ".".
Contact me about any of the following:
1) Contributions
2) Corrections
3) Questions/Advice
4) Requests
5) Questions about any other game ever created.
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=Copyright=
===========
This game is copyrighted. It cannot be replicated, reproduced, or posted
anywhere besides gamefaqs or my official websites.
