Conflicting Info on Coal Power Plants

[Xechwill]

Just to make sure, Coal Power Plants don't provide regional benefits, right? Some people say that they do, some say they don't, but I'm seeing more people say "no regional benefit."

As far as I understand:

Coal Power Plants: Bonus production equal to adjacency. No regional effects.

Oil Power Plants: Bonus 3 production. Regionally applied.

Nuclear Power Plants: Bonus 4 production and +3 Science. Regionally applied.

For instance, a city with Vertical Integration Magnus with 3 nearby nuclear power plants would get +12 production, but that city surrounded by a bunch of Coal Power Plants would get 0 bonus production. Am I understanding these mechanics correctly?

Just tested it in-game, and I'm correct. Coal doesn't provide adjacency, oil/nuclear do with those values, Vertical Integration Magnus gets bonuses from oil/nuclear

 

[Linklite]

The wiki https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Coal_Power_Plant_(Civ6) says that it provides power to surrounding cities. Perhaps that's where the confusion is.

 

[the_sun]

Am I understanding these mechanics correctly?

I think you do.

 

[evahappy]

The wiki https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Coal_Power_Plant_(Civ6) says that it provides power to surrounding cities. Perhaps that's where the confusion is.

it also says:

• The bonus Production from a Coal Power Plant is local and will not be extended to other cities within 6 tiles.

so here's an answer.

 

[Tech Osen]

Am I understanding these mechanics correctly?

Yes

 

[slavaskii]

Wow, I'm speechless, I never knew this. I never thought there was reason to upgrade from coal power plants because a) I rarely have oil and b) it's just another thing to do.

So if I understand correctly, regardless of adjacency, coal power plants will always provide 0 bonuses to surrounding cities, but provide extra production to the home city based on adjacency? But with oil plants, they provide no production based on adjacency, but +3 to surrounding cities? Is this difference just situational, or should I always be upgrading to oil/nuclear?

 

[InsidiousMage]

So if I understand correctly, regardless of adjacency, coal power plants will always provide 0 bonuses to surrounding cities, but provide extra production to the home city based on adjacency? But with oil plants, they provide no production based on adjacency, but +3 to surrounding cities? Is this difference just situational, or should I always be upgrading to oil/nuclear?

Correct. Coal provides massive benefits to the city where it is located but only power to other cities. Oil/Nuclear provide lower production but to more cities plus power. It honestly depends on what you are doing for which plant you want to use. Coal is a must for science victories since you can only launch one project at a time until you finish the Exoplanet Expedition but Oil works better for diplo and culture since you don't need as much concentrated production. Domination can do either way and you can have a few cities churning out late game units or try and spread it out over your empire.

 

[The Highwayman]

Wow, I'm speechless, I never knew this. I never thought there was reason to upgrade from coal power plants because a) I rarely have oil and b) it's just another thing to do.

So if I understand correctly, regardless of adjacency, coal power plants will always provide 0 bonuses to surrounding cities, but provide extra production to the home city based on adjacency? But with oil plants, they provide no production based on adjacency, but +3 to surrounding cities? Is this difference just situational, or should I always be upgrading to oil/nuclear?

It's situational. A coal plant in a city with godly adjacency that is doing the heavy lifting production wise makes sense. Oil and especially nuclear power make more sense with mediocre adjacency and regionally affecting 6+ cities. Furthermore, nuclear power plant in a city spamming space projects need not worry about power loss for the most part, as it operates far more efficiently. It's also cleaner and comes with little to no diplo penalty if you need the favor for victory or to sell.

 

[Linklite]

Wow, I'm speechless, I never knew this. I never thought there was reason to upgrade from coal power plants because a) I rarely have oil and b) it's just another thing to do.

So if I understand correctly, regardless of adjacency, coal power plants will always provide 0 bonuses to surrounding cities, but provide extra production to the home city based on adjacency? But with oil plants, they provide no production based on adjacency, but +3 to surrounding cities? Is this difference just situational, or should I always be upgrading to oil/nuclear?

Depends on where you want the production I guess. Coal provides it to that city, oil provides it for other cities, and oil is cleaner. On the other hand, I generally have more coal than I know what to do with, while oil is scarcer. I prefer coal, but I.rarely use power stations anyway. I just wait for green energy.

 

[Archon_Wing]

I rarely have oil

I think that's reason enough.

I guess if you hit 4 other cities, your oil plant would generate 15 production and would be better than coal if the adjacency bonus isn't comparable. Yes, production concentrated in one area is better, but outside of Science Victories somewhat overrated.

But the problem is coal comes much earlier so you may not want to waste the production to convert to oil. It would cost 300 production. If your oil plant gives 15 more production than the coal plant it would breakeven in 20 turns which is good, but rather hard to achieve.

The truth of the matter is that coal plants and the factories it powers is an incredible investment for when it first appears while oil is not as impressive when it finally shows up.

Workshop + Factory + Coal Plant = 825 production.

I would say an investment that pays for itself in 20 turns to be great, 30 turns to be good, and 40 turns to be marginal. More than that is pretty bad. It's a bit arbitrary I know. But I would say
A (less than 20 turns) > 41.25 production/turn
B (less than 30 turns)) 27.5-41.25
C (less than 40 turns) 20.625-27.5
D (less than 50 turns) 16.5--20.625
F (more than 50 turns) < 16.5

So a factory that hits 4 other cities would generate 15 production on its own. With an adjacency bonus of +5 (doubled to 10 with the IZ card), and the +3 from workshop that would be +28 production, which isn't hard to get at all. It would be pretty hard to make a factory/coal plant combo that fails this.

(Yes this assumes the IZs already exists. In reality, it should be better because the workshop should already be in place and its awfulness should not really detract from the other buildings. Plus the other benefits of power and ability to invest increased production in things you can't build yet are also there.)