Nuclear Plant Meltdowns?

[minke19104]

I generally try to build Nuclear Plants even after I have the Hoover Dam in my core cities so I get 100 % production bonus.

The question is, in the Civilopedia it says that if the plant meltdowns all hell would break lose. So far this has never happened to me. I would actually like to see it happens just for the fun of it. Anybody has a saved game or screenshot of a Nuclear Plant Meltdowns?

[Carver]

It's similar to having your city hit with a nuke. The 8 adjacent tiles are polluted, and IIRC road/rail connections are lost and units are damaged and/or destroyed.

[Jaybe]

It has been awhile (about a year!) but my memory is that
population: halved
pollution: the 8 adjacent tiles (OR WAS IT THE WHOLE RADIUS?!)
tile improvement damage: I do not remember
Unit damage: I don't remember that either!

My advice: Only build it where you have few hills/mountains/forests. Do your best to stay out of Anarchy, because if the plant blows, that's when it's going to happen. I don't know the probability.

[Datajack Franit]

Why do you build nuclear plants if you already have the Hoover Dam? The effects of several plants does not exist, the previous one is just destroyed to replace it with the new one- that doesn't happen with Hoover Dam cause obviously it's a Wonder so cannot disappear

[bongo]

I don't think the previous plants are destroyed, they just stop working.

[Datajack Franit]

BTW the nuclear plants pollutes the city's 8 tiles, downgrading them in the common order: forest, grassland, brownland, desert

[Datajack Franit]

I don't think the previous plants are destroyed, they just stop working

If you check the city's overview you'll notice the ruins of the previous plant- the same happens whenever you relocate your palace/your capital is conquered

[Jaybe]

Nuclear power plant is more powerful than Hydro/Hoover. 100% instead of 50% increase. Of course, the increase is over the base (post corruption?) amount, not post factory amount.

[Be Quicker]

yeah, when does this meltdown happen. It never happened to me and I indeed always produce them in >50 shields producing cities, because of the aforementioned +100%. And if meltdowns do not happen there is no reason not to build them.

[Catt]

It's been a while since I played with meltdowns, but IIRC the population is halved and the surrounding eight tiles are polluted. However, the underlying tile improvements are not destroyed, the terrain does not degrade, no city improvements are destroyed (not even the nuke plant) and no units are destroyed or injured (neither in the city nor in the surrounding tiles). Assuming that the surrounding terrain is RR'd, the real pain point is the population loss -- with enough workers you can generally get the pollution cleaned up fairly quickly, and you don't lose worker turns to movement into unroaded tiles (since the underlying improvements aren't destroyed). All in all, not a huge calamity, and certainly well short of the damage caused by a nuclear strike.

EDIT: @be quicker -- there is a 50% chance of meltdown each turn that the city in question is in civil disorder. No disorder = no chance of meltdown.

Catt

[minke19104]

My advice: Only build it where you have few hills/mountains/forests. Do your best to stay out of Anarchy, because if the plant blows, that's when it's going to happen. I don't know the probability.

Hmm.. maybe I should try going to anarchy and see if it blows . 100 % bonus is much better than 50% bonus, thats why I make em. Man I wished I can have like a City that has Ironworks, close enough to the capital so no corruption, Factory, Nuclear Plant, Manufacturing Facility, and with a hefty population surrounded by mountain range with gold ...

That would be the ultimate city in my perspective

[Be Quicker]

Thanks for the info Catt !!!

I then probably never experienced a meltdown.
Because by that stage of the game I am milking the score or steamrolling over an opponent. At any rate, I will have enough luxuries/city improvements/wonders to prevents civil disorder.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Catt
All in all, not a huge calamity, and certainly well short of the damage caused by a nuclear strike.

Catt

Right on the mark, as usual, Catt.

I think that a nuclear meltdown should have far more drastic consequences in the game. Not only population loss and polluted squares, but maybe other cities (the ones closest to the meltdown city) could get a population loss too, and the underlying tile improvements (all but roads and railroads) should be destroyed in the city where the meltdown occurred. Oh, and terrain degradation there too.