Power plants and strategical resources

[Yoleus]

In short:

(coal/oil) power plant: do I need coal/oil in the trade network?
hydro plant: river, sea as in CivII?
nuclear (fission) plant: uranium in the trade network?

new types of plants?

[Grumbold]

I think it unlikely from what we have heard that resources will be needed for buildings. I found CtP's decision to unlink the proximity of water with irrigation and farmland sensible. The maps are just too macro-scale to show all the small rivers. Similarly in Civ III the number of sources of common resources like coal would be overwhelming. Limiting them to restricted locations and only tying them into a few critical items makes the game more playable.

[Provost Harrison]

Actually I think this would be sensible. You could always build sources of renewable energy (hydro plant, solar plant) later on in the game so you can get energy. Of course the nuclear and power plants would bring their own advantages and disadvantages (cheap, plenty of reliable power).

So yeah, I think resources to build buildings is a good idea!

[Sandman]

Speaking of power plants, I wonder if they will have the same effect as in civ2? In civ2 they increased the shield output, although not by very much.

Maybe there will be a national grid system where each power plant benefits all cities? Like the satelites in SMAC?

[Jason Beaudoin]

I think it would be wize to make these buildings dependant on a civilizations supply of natural resources, after all, that should be part of the economic model.

I hope Firaxis put this in there.

[Gramphos]

As rubber is needed for the Mass Transit System, why wouldn't uranium be needed for a Nuclear Plant?

What happens if you trade uranium from someone and builds powerplants. Then you get in war with that civ and loses your uranium. Will your plant still work?

[Jason Beaudoin]

This also razes another question:

If you build a certain building like a factory, and then loose your supply of coal, would you still be able to use your factory?

[Inverse Icarus]

i remember them saying an airport needs oil.

[Asesino_Virtual]

I think resources will be used only for building proposals, not for mantaining. If u need one resource for mantaining a building, wouldnt be enought resources for all the civs and wars will be something of all days, like in CIVII, and thats not something Firaxis wants.

[Gramphos]

I don't know, I guess that everybody wants one of each resource anyway. But most likely you will only need it when it first is built.

[Inverse Icarus]

bah, i think you should need upkeep costs, but then again i also proposed stockpiling resources

[Gramphos]

Originally posted by UberKruX
bah, i think you should need upkeep costs, but then again i also proposed stockpiling resources

Viva la Colonization!

I wanted stockpiles too.

[Faboba]

To require resources in the upkeep of buildings is fairly ludicrous consider in a war - you lose your city which you generate all your uranium in - all your power plants are destroyed - it's insane.

It's much more likely ( and if correct, another big for Firaxis ) that they will be required more simply for the initial construction of civic improvments.

I disagree with the notion of removing rivers/ocean tiles nearby as a requirement to build irrigation. It adds another degree of challenge and realism. Afterall you're not going to fight another more powerful civilization for a fertile river delta, if you can just terraform your own in the middle of a dessert.

[Crouchback]

If resources are needed for building upkeep we'll all want stockpiles.

Surely there is a point at which the resource system could become a real barrier to game play, and this may be it for me. Talk about making warfare difficult.

David

[Blaupanzer]

Appears to me that one source of a resource supplies all that is needed as long as it is available. So there's no such thing as stockpiles, and the same resource can both facilitate building a city improvement and sustaining it. CTP 1 and 2 were NOT developed by the Firaxis team and will not be a source of ideas or code.