According to experiments and documents referred to in: • Farms should be placed such that the area surrounding the building has the highest yield potential. Ideally, you place your farm on a spot with horrible yield but that has high yield around it to maximize use of farming land. • Mines need to be placed on top of the deposit for peak efficiency.

Since there isn't much about the mechanics of the game that has changed between the Tropico 3 and 4, it's unlikely that Tropico 4 is any different. There are posts about Tropico 4 that say, although they are on other non-official sites.

FWIW: My observations through my own playthrough in Tropico 4 supports the above statements. I don't have screenshots of overlays vs. Crop placement or mine placement vs extraction rate, but the most productive mines for me have been right on top of the overlay area and the most productive farms were surrounded completely by green overlay areas with the road 3-5 squares away. My Unfinished Business Dan Kennedy Pdf there. They will build across the street to get to good land if they have to, but I usually place my road down a stretch of spread out farms for maximum effectiveness.

Although the Tropico Wiki says it otherwise (and does not give any proof for their claim), I've always placed my mines directly on top of the resources (both salt and mineral mines) in Tropico 4 and all the mines eventually depleted all of their reserves. I can't say for sure whether miners work faster if you place the mines next to the resource or right atop of it, but I am certain that it is not true that miners cannot get resources that are right below the mine building. Check this screenshot below. There was an iron patch in the place of the army base before and there were two mines on top of the patch. So practically most of the iron ore was located directly under the mine buildings but still, that resource got depleted after a few years: Image is from the sixth extra mission named 'Super Hero' (Or 'The Masked Avenger' according to the Wiki).

Patch notes; Stats. Deap Software 3.2.1. Concurrent Players. Tropico 4 English: Last Update (March 26, 2015. Tropico 4 + Prima Official Strategy Guide. Tropico 4 Cheat Codes, Trainers, Patch Updates, Demos, Downloads, Cheats Trainer, Tweaks & Game Patch Fixes are featured on this page.

You can check the initial state of the island where you can spot the iron patch in this place. A similar correction for farms: If there are natural trees on top of fertile land and a farm is near, farmers clear the trees and plant their crops.

Natural trees don't prevent farmers from working that specific square with the trees. I didn't try this with the trees that are planted by the order of El Presidente. This is relevant to Tropico Paradise Island but may also apply to other Tropico versions. In order for mines to be productive the mine has to be built close to, but not on top of, the yellow area for the minerals. But the mine also has to be built BELOW it.

Because the miners move half as fast when they're carrying minerals, speed is a lot slower when moving uphill (and makes them tired quickly) so it follows they will be a lot less productive when carrying minerals uphill. You know that a mine's not going to be profitable anymore when they start going below the mine for minerals, although gold sells for so much that it can run for maybe ten or fifteen years after that. Mines typically are profitable for about 25 years.