I downloaded Tropico, but only two icons are showing up on my desktop:
Tropico and Tropico 2: Pirates
Not sure how to access the Paradise Island Expansion.
In Tropico 1, I'm having trouble with the happiness scale.
I generally gauge what the people want by zooming out, and turning on the "thumbs up"
icon, stepping through each factor to see that arrows change colors.
So far, no matter what I do, lots of the people stay very unhappy with their housing.
I've been very surprised that the tenements and apartment buildings seem to house
so few people. They fill up fast, and I keep maintenance at full level, with very low rent, maybe $2 a month for a tenement, and $3 a month for an apartment.
I'd build more houses, but land it too scarce. Compared to what I need to build, the island is really tiny.
No matter how many shacks I bulldoze, no matter how many barracks I build in their place, the shacks come back.....I assume this is the unemployed? It would be nice if the Almanac showed the percentage of unemployed. Hm. Maybe it does. Often, I feel as if it contains too much information.
I build condos for the college-level employees, but they dont' all want to live there.
How much religion is enough religion? Seems like no matter how many churches I build, those arrows stay "unhappy" also.
As I expand, it seems really difficult to get the construction workers to come to
the new area and build. I've tried buiding new construction buildings, but thats sort of a catch-22.
Some things seem automatically set to be horrible (or wonderful) business investments.
Restaraunts and pubs make money like goldmines......a cannery takes years to begin to turn a profit, if it ever does, even when well-supplied.
Some of the nags seem automatic, true? For example, I've got sawdust burners on the mills, I've got all the building settings on the environmentally-friendly settings, I've passed the air pollution and litter edicts, but I'm still getting the voice-over saying "Presidente, the island is disgusting! Can nothing be done about the environment?" And the people seem to agree.
It's actually pretty easy to stay in power, but getting to the point where you can win an election is feeling impossible.
The island size is frustrating, also. I guess the idea is you're supposed to change over from growing things to a tourist industry? There isn't enough room for both farms and the buildings you need.

The Paradise Island expansion changes the base game; there is no separate game, though there may be some scenarios it added. I've never played scenarios in Tropico, so I don't remember.
Housing is one of the largest factors in the overall happiness of your citizens. My suggestion is to build a second construction office right away at a moderate distance from the first one. Then build a tenement, and keep building them and apartments throughout the game. Don't raise rents until very late in the game; you will lose money, but rent is a big factor in your citizen's perception of housing quality, and thus their happiness with their housing.
Anyone can live in a shack. If there is no space in better housing, or if available housing is too far to walk to work and food, they will build a shack. Don't bother bulldozing them; they will fall down on their own if not occupied for a while. Occasionally I will tear one down to evict a college-educated citizen who complains about his housing but won't move to the new luxury home I built next door.
The almanac will give you a number of people who are unemployed, and the nest to the last tab will allow you to see exactly who is unemployed.
There is never enough religion. Well, sometimes, but don't count on it. Since people have to walk everywhere, and not many seem to want to become priests anyway, religion seems to remain in short supply in my games.
Build construction offices a moderate distance from existing ones, and set it to high priority when you build it so the workers will think about building it first. About as far as you can get one built in a reasonable amount of time is as far you can expect people to walk for anything: food, work, religion, medical care, or entertainment. You can always tear down ones you no longer need. I usually tear down the first construction office about halfway through the game because I'll have two or three around where it was if I need something built or repaired there.
My pubs usually lose money. Manufacturing buildings like canneries can be tricky because they only produce when a worker is there, and sometimes workers have trouble getting there for any length of time before they get tired or hungry and go home.
The island is disgusting from littering. Issue the anti-littering decree. Yes, you take a hit to liberty. Just cancel it when an election is called and reissue it afterwards.
Build clusters of buildings. I typically cluster together, as close as the terrain will let me, two tenements, a construction office, a teamsters' office, and a market. Markets are important because they cut down on the time citizens spend walking out to a farm for food, thus maximizing time on the job.
A few more things that help me:
Do the Russian trade mission as soon as possible for cheaper mass housing. Then do the US one when you can for a cheaper airport and cheaper power plants. They pay for themselves over time.
Pass the social security decree. This will provide enough money that most retirees and students can afford to live in something besides a shack.
Carefully check the preferences of the faction leaders. Their opinion affects others of their faction. If the communist leader values good housing, try to make sure he gets a spot in a house or apartment building.
Plan ahead for certain structures. For example, check which way the wind blows so you can put your power plant on the edge of the island where the smoke will blow out to sea.
Tourism is the best source of money if you're just playing for the best score. Build a cheap hotel early on, with a beach site and one or two other things for the tourists to do. Then upgrade you islands amenities as you go.