Windmill is currently Watermill's weak sister. Where Watermill needed to be cut back, Windmill is crying for help. Windmill stops increasing its yields at all after the Renaissance (getting a neutral change at Electricity), and so is begging to be replaced once you hit the Industrial Era. As it is, I usually only build Windmills to cover Depleted Mines.
Windmill actually starts off pretty good compared to other improvements. The problem is that after the Industrial, it goes absolutely nowhere.
First, to make the Industrial Era Windmill better, I would add +1 production at Electricity. I thought about just cutting the -1 food, but I think it will work better with an upgrade path that I am about to detail.
For the Modern Era, I propose to rename the Desert Windmill as the Windfarm. It would be buildable on more tiles; instead of just Desert, it would be buildable on Desert, Plains, Hills, or Mountains. Windmills would then upgrade to Windfarms. The new Windfarm would generate +1 food, +2 production, and +4 commerce; a very small (0.5-point) upgrade over Windmill. It would not need any Transhuman bonuses. This is why Windmill drops to 1 food at Electricity; I would have a hard time buying +2 food from a Windfarm on a Desert square.
The final stage of the Windmill chain is the currently-existing Windtrap. This is pretty much fine as it is, except that I would allow it to be built on the same tiles as Windfarm and cut all the tech-related bonuses except for +1 food at Weather Control. This brings it into line with the rest of the improvements.
Now the Windmill yield curve looks very similar to the rest of the improvements.
Farm Mine Workshop Cottage Watermill Windmill
Ancient +1 +0.75 N/A +1 N/A N/A
Classical +1 +2.75 +1 +1.5 +1 +1.5
Medieval +2 +2.75 +2 +2.25 +2 +2.5
Renaissance +2 +4 +3 +3 +3.5 +3.5
Industrial +3 +4 +5.5 +4.5 +4.5 +4.5
Modern +4.5 +5 +6.5 +5.5 +4.5 +5
Transhuman +6 +6 +6.5 +6.5 +6.5 +6.5
Windmill actually starts off pretty good compared to other improvements. The problem is that after the Industrial, it goes absolutely nowhere.
- Default: +1 food, +1 commerce (total: +1.5)
- Medieval Era: +1 food from Agricultural Tools
- Net: +2 food, +1 commerce (total: +2.5)
- Renaissance Era: +1 production from Replaceable Parts
- Net: +2 food, +1 production, +1 commerce (total: +3.5)
- Industrial Era: -1 food, +2 commerce from Electricity
- Net: +1 food, +1 production, +3 commerce (total: +3.5)
First, to make the Industrial Era Windmill better, I would add +1 production at Electricity. I thought about just cutting the -1 food, but I think it will work better with an upgrade path that I am about to detail.
For the Modern Era, I propose to rename the Desert Windmill as the Windfarm. It would be buildable on more tiles; instead of just Desert, it would be buildable on Desert, Plains, Hills, or Mountains. Windmills would then upgrade to Windfarms. The new Windfarm would generate +1 food, +2 production, and +4 commerce; a very small (0.5-point) upgrade over Windmill. It would not need any Transhuman bonuses. This is why Windmill drops to 1 food at Electricity; I would have a hard time buying +2 food from a Windfarm on a Desert square.
The final stage of the Windmill chain is the currently-existing Windtrap. This is pretty much fine as it is, except that I would allow it to be built on the same tiles as Windfarm and cut all the tech-related bonuses except for +1 food at Weather Control. This brings it into line with the rest of the improvements.
- Default: +1 food, +1 commerce (total: +1.5)
- Medieval Era: +1 food from Agricultural Tools
- Net: +2 food, +1 commerce (total: +2.5)
- Renaissance Era: +1 production from Replaceable Parts
- Net: +2 food, +1 production, +1 commerce (total: +3.5)
- Industrial Era: -1 food, +1 production, +2 commerce from Electricity
- Net: +1 food, +2 production, +3 commerce (total: +4.5)
- Net: +1 food, +2 production, +4 commerce (total: +5)
- Net: +2 food, +2 production, +5 commerce (total: +6.5)
Now the Windmill yield curve looks very similar to the rest of the improvements.
Ancient +1 +0.75 N/A +1 N/A N/A
Classical +1 +2.75 +1 +1.5 +1 +1.5
Medieval +2 +2.75 +2 +2.25 +2 +2.5
Renaissance +2 +4 +3 +3 +3.5 +3.5
Industrial +3 +4 +5.5 +4.5 +4.5 +4.5
Modern +4.5 +5 +6.5 +5.5 +4.5 +5
Transhuman +6 +6 +6.5 +6.5 +6.5 +6.5