Concerning the Hoover Dam

[Midnite_Rambler]

I recently found that the effects of the Hoover Dam (one hrdyo plant per continental city) does NOT compound with coal plants despite the fact that they still appear on your cities' build lists. At the risk of sounding obvious or even slightly ********, i thought i'd give a heads up, as i was wasting both sheilds and maintanence costs on obselete buildings.

Two questions:
1.) Is there any difference between Hoover-appointed hydro plants and solar plants?
2.) Though nuclear plants double factory output, do you risk the meltdown?


I ask because i'm going for my first spaceship win on emperor and its an actual space RACE; as opposed to last time on regent when hiawatha's "Metallurgy-Based Flying-Machine of the Future" failed to catch up with me in outer-orbit.

 

[eldar]

0. As soon as I finish Hoover's, I sell every Coal Plant I have (that is on the same continent as Hoover's). You net 40 gold+3gpt per plant sold, and lose the pollution points too.

1. No, there is no difference at all. Both are pollution-free power plants that add an extra 50% of the BASE output of a city, as long as a factory is present. In other words, put your shields to better use (though Solar Plants make excellent pre-builds for Spaceship parts, prior to ICBMs being available).

2. Nuke Plants will only explode if the city goes into disorder. Keep your people happy, and they're 100% safe.

 

[Northen Wolf]

Everything should be answered here:

Everything You Wanted to Know About Power Plants - by Catt in Civilization III: War Academy.

That should answer your question and perhaps questions you did not know to ask.

CF has answers for all of your needs (Besides bathroom needs ofcourse.),

 

[Optional]

Just a comment on strategy here: for a Spaceship, Hoover's pretty unimportant in itself. You just need a couple of towns to produce shields quickly for the most important spaceship parts, but it's mostly commerce that you need.
Factories and hydro plants all over the place are only interesting when you still need a big military offensive. Maybe you still need that, of course, I can't tell, but Hoover is an overrated wonder.

 

[Ninja Flick]

Where Hoover really excels is if you're in the mood to go late into the modern era and have a nuclear showdown. Lots of cities with that much of a production boost gives you one hell of a nuclear arsenal.

Of course if I get that late into a game I usually build it anyway, as I like having the option of a big production boost should I need it.

 

[Spoonwood]

Hoover's Dam can make for a nice late-game GA trigger if playing as agricultural, if that's what you want.

 

[Sweetchuck]

Here's something to consider.

If you're not playing America and you build the HD, shouldn't it be called "Montezuma's Dam" if you're playing, say the Aztecs?

 

[capnvonbaron]

If you're not playing America and you build the HD, shouldn't it be called "Montezuma's Dam" if you're playing, say the Aztecs?

Prolly why they changed it to "Three Gorges Dam" in Civ4. Several wonders are like that, IMO. Just like it should be "Wang's Trading Company" when built by China, or "Shenandoah's Art Of War" when built by Iroquois.

 

[darski]

Here's something to consider.

If you're not playing America and you build the HD, shouldn't it be called "Montezuma's Dam" if you're playing, say the Aztecs?

Perhaps we need an article in the Academy on what a "Wonder of the World" is.

Hoover Dam is a wonder and not because it is American but because it is amazing. changing the name for another civ makes no sense as no one in the history of the world has ever heard of Monty's Dam. Monty's revenge is well known

 

[Spoonwood]

I agree with capnvonbron and disagree with Darski. This game is *not* a historical re-creation of some sort. The whole ability of the Americans to exist in 4000 BC, the Inca to build Bach's Cathedral, etc. makes this apparent. Civ III has *elements* of a historical drama, but it's more like sci-fi in my mind... it's like you watch the rise and fall of soceities on some distant planet not too dissimilar with our own and we re-name the tribes after our historical bretheren (or enemies).

Also, whatever civilization does something first almost invariably implies naming rights. www comes as a modern one, since English speaking Americans created The Internet. So, if a religious cult had built Hoover's Dam it would have gotten called God's Dam. If China had gone to the moon first, they almost surely wouldn't have named their program after a Greek god. At least in civ III I guess they finally said "Theory of Evolution" instead of the ridiculous "Darwin's Voyage" they had in civ I and II.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Overrated....probably. But I still build it when I can. It saves the 3 gpt per coal plant, which if you have 10 coal plants in your core can add up. Plus, coal plants generate an annoying amount of pollution. In a space race, I might still build several nuclear plants in my high shield core cities. Hoover is not game critical, but if someone else can build it first, it means your game is not going very well.

 

[capnvonbaron]

Exactly, Spoony. There actually exists a small but fun branch of sci-fi/fantasy fiction liturature that is based on 'alternate history', usually in the form of short stories. Authors get the chance to explore various historical "what-ifs" and expand on the possible alternate course of history thereafter. Such as, what if one of the bullets responsible for the several horses shot out from under George Washington during the course of the American Revolution, had ended up in GW himself? What if the Chinese had made it to and colonized the New World before western Europeans? What if Alexander the Great had not died of illness during his conquests, causing the untimely end of the Macedonian empire? What if Christianity had been snubbed and snuffed as a 'silly superstition' before it became so widespread? Some of it involves some rediculous time-traveler stunts that alter history through 'the butterfly effect', but some of it does bring up some great points about how so much stuff had to go exactly right for us to be here as we are right now. Anywho, back on topic. Civ basically gives everyone the chance to write their own 'alternate history', which obviously we all enjoy. Also probably the reason Earth maps are so popular is because it brings the alternate history fantasy just a leeettle bit closer to home

I get that some things in Civ are as they are just for the sake of gameplay, and it is what it is. Some things get a little more on-track in Civ4:BtS in the form of unique buildings that only effect the civ that is allowed to build it. IMO, some of the wonders in Civ3 like Temple of Artemis, Temple of Zeus, etc. are a little too specific to be world-wide available but would make great unique buildings that allow their culture to enjoy a specific effect. I like the more general great wonders like "the Hanging Gardens" and "Great Pyramids" which technically could have been built by many different cultures given certain geographical, cultural, political, and pure random chance influences (as the pyramids were, for example... unless you believe in aliens ). Even the Hoover is more like a 'small wonder', since the Chinese have their new Three Gorges Dam, and the Egyptians have their Aswan High Dam.