Assembly Plants?

[MilesBeyond]

Okay. I usually play as Freddie, because despite the fact that his UU and UB both completely suck, ORG and PHI is just too nice of a combination for me to pass up.

I usually end up building tons of Assembly Plants anyway (on the rare occasion I get to that stage of the game) thanks to that lovely production bonus from ORG, and I noticed that on top of the completely useless +4 engineer slots (which, let's remember, the Factory already has +2, so it's only a +2 bonus), it does get +50% hammers with coal, which the Factory doesn't.

So I'm wondering, how exactly does that bonus work? Is that on top of the bonus it already gives? If that's the case, then with coal and electricity, an Assembly Plant would double a city's production, which to me suddenly makes it much more useful as a building, especially if you're looking at a tight Space Race.

On the other hand, I've had enough experience with Civ IV's confusing and counter-intuitive approach to mathematics to know that it probably isn't this simple, so I'm wondering if anyone could answer how this coal bonus actually works.

[Ghpstage]

You don't get a production bonus from the assembly plant, you get a production bonus to construction of the assembly plant, as in coal only helps you to build the building (like a lesser version of Org). This bonus in practice is barely noticeable, and due to the way production bonuses stack its even more pathetic with Freddie's Org trait.....

If it actually gave an extra 50% production with coal after being completed it wouldn't be commonly regarded as the worst UB.

[ParadigmShifter]

Worse than the dun?

[MilesBeyond]

Originally Posted by Ghpstage

You don't get a production bonus from the assembly plant, you get a production bonus to construction of the assembly plant, as in coal only helps you to build the building (like a lesser version of Org). This bonus in practice is barely noticeable, and due to the way production bonuses stack its even more pathetic with Freddie's Org trait.....

If it actually gave an extra 50% production with coal after being completed it wouldn't be commonly regarded as the worst UB.

Oh wow, are you serious? So half of it's bonus is only useful if you're Bizzy. Man. This building really does suck.

[TheMeInTeam]

Originally Posted by ParadigmShifter

Worse than the dun?

It often is, yes.

The problem with it is that it comes so late that it almost never helps effect the outcome of the game.

The dun, however, can easily matter if you settle a hill city near shaka. The extra promotion will swing the odds in your favor in an early war, and that *can* change the outcome of the game.

Between a building that will occasionally have a big impact on the game and otherwise minimal and a building that sometimes gives nothing (games functionally ending before AL) and is otherwise fairly minimal (late and useful but unimpressive bonus), taking the building that has at least a chance of being significantly useful in a relevant time period is rational.