increase factory output

[sevencubed]

In all my games so far, i never built city improvements that increase the shields output, other than the factory and the hydro plant (mostly by achieving HooverDam).

In my last game i tried to built a solar plant, hoping that it would have a cumulative effect with the hydro plant. To my surprise, there was no increase to shield output when the solar plant was built.

I then checked the civilopedia entry to see that : "...the solar plant replaces other power plants...".

and the same is noticed for all power plants. This means that we can have just one of them as a production enhancer. Am I missing something ?

[vmxa1]

Basically yes, can only have one plant in a city. I believe there is an exception in the case of Hoover Dam, but I forget the details.
I only use factories and Hoover Dam as well. Hold over from Civ2.

[planetfall]

Naturally you could change this in the editor, but that would really tweak the game.

Manu. plants come late, but they are nice to have with the expensive costs in the modern era.

== PF

[BigDork]

The problem with manufacturing plants is that they come so late in the game. Usually if I get that far in the tech tree I'm not trying or I'm just goofing around. Maybe if they showed up earlier they'd be better but as they are now...

BigD

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Yes, I've found manufacturing plants to simply be fluff, either I've won the game by then or lost it.

[badams52]

But you could build the nuclear plant which replaces a hydro plant but produces more. It might be just fluff by that time, but I still like to see how productive I can get my cities. I even research the techs to get the manufacturing plant and offshore platforms (both highly unnecessary city modifications).

And as I remember in Civ 2, manufacturing plants weren't necessary either. But offshore platforms came earlier, and solar plants eliminated pollution.

[nationalist]

Originally posted by badams52
offshore platforms (both highly unnecessary city modifications).

Offshore platforms are VERY helpful when figthing a late game war. They make coastal cities much more productive, which is nice when you need to pump out naval units/modern armor/nuclear weapons

[BigDork]

I will usually get the offshore platforms for my coastal cities. It's not super important to me to squeeze every last shield outta a city but these really do help the larger coastal cities.

BigD

[theNiceOne]

Re: increase factory output

Originally posted by sevencubed This means that we can have just one of them as a production enhancer. Am I missing something ?

What you may be missing is the fact that different plants have different pros and cons, and that you should build the one that suits your current situation. Here's some of it right from memory:

Coal Plant:
+ First available, cheapest, can be built in all cities
- Pollution
Use: Early when you need extra production for building wonders (You can rush a coal plant for faster building of the ToE or Hoover Dam), also fine if you don't expect to get Hoover Dam on the continent.

Hydro Plant.
+ Second available, no pollution, You get one free in every city on the continent if building the Hoover Dam.
- Can only be built in cities adjacent to rivers (exc. Hoover Dam).
Use: In all river cities if you don't want the pollution from the coal plant.

Solar Plant:
+ Can be built everywhere, no pollution
- Avaliable late
Use: Only worth building if you don't have hoover dam on the continent, and then only on cities not adjacent to water where you want to avoid the polution of a Coal Plant.

Nuclear Plant.
+ 100% shield increase (twice as good as any other plant), no pollution.
- Avaliable late, expensive, a small danger of meltdown.
Use: Nice to build in your highest production cities to get super production cities before the space race.

[Hurricane]

Didn't nuclear plants require fresh water inside the city radius? It's so long since I built them that I've forgotten how it was.

[CerberusIV]

Yes, nuclear plants require a river or lake within the city radius.

Hydro requires a river.

[Willem]

Re: increase factory output

Originally posted by sevencubed
In all my games so far, i never built city improvements that increase the shields output, other than the factory and the hydro plant (mostly by achieving HooverDam).

In my last game i tried to built a solar plant, hoping that it would have a cumulative effect with the hydro plant. To my surprise, there was no increase to shield output when the solar plant was built.

I then checked the civilopedia entry to see that : "...the solar plant replaces other power plants...".

and the same is noticed for all power plants. This means that we can have just one of them as a production enhancer. Am I missing something ?

Solar plants are meant for all those cities that don't have a river within their city radius; which is a requirement for hydro plants, in order to the reduce pollution caused by coal plants. (I wonder why there's no gas/oil plants) Or you can go the nuclear route, but then you take the chance of having a meltdown. Oh yeah, you can only build those in cities with water in it's radius, either a river or a lake.

[Dida]

I think you need a lake to build nuclear plant, not a river. I'm not sure though.
I remember in CTP, the effects of power plants are cummilative. so by late game, you can have super productive cities, and plus we can have mine->advance mine -> mega mine, or even undersea mine. That's really cool. We can put fish net on the coastal tiles to enhance food production. i really miss that.

[pedrojedi]

That kind of tile improvement was really nice. The other one was the "advanced farm" with the supermarket in civ2, which was cool as well.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Dida
I think you need a lake to build nuclear plant, not a river. I'm not sure though.

You just need to have a source of fresh water in your city radius, that includes rivers as well.