Special thanks to @stephanie for reminding me how much I love Tropico, a 25ish year old game. I have not played any of the newer titles mind you, but boy is this the good stuff.
I just used a hex editor to whip El Présidente up a fair sum of bonus dollars, to take the edge off, and it's still amazingly punishingly difficult. It's the only city builder that I still find entertaining, having lost my love for this type of thing a while ago.