Dams worth it?

[Kibikus]

I didn't realize their housing bonus is 3, is that correct? Are people sleeping in the dam?

Well, the concept of Housing in the game doesn't just represent actual houses, but also other necessities of life, like fresh water. That's why you get extra housing from rivers, lakes, aqueducts and dams. I guess the idea is that if you don't settle near fresh water, your citizens have to get it by digging wells for example, which can only give you so much.

 

[Disgustipated]

Well, the concept of Housing in the game doesn't just represent actual houses, but also other necessities of life, like fresh water. That's why you get extra housing from rivers, lakes, aqueducts and dams. I guess the idea is that if you don't settle near fresh water, your citizens have to get it by digging wells for example, which can only give you so much

Very true. And I like the fresh water mechanic in civ6 for the most part. Though it still seems strange not getting farm bonus next to rivers, but the new flood plains mechanic solves this mostly. And where I live is a perfect example of a dam providing additional fresh water. Though we may technically get it from the river (lake actually, but the river determined our allocation), being able to store water for the dry years has helped. Though in the end, we may not have much of a town in 100 years since California farming takes priority over us.

 

[agonistes]

I like dams. But I like even more a great bath/artemis combo.

 

[Jarms48]

I just wish they provided power to nearby cities too. Same with all renewables. That would give them a slight buff.

 

[NukeAJS]

If you have districts on that river -- absolutely. If the river hasn't flooded yet ... definitely not. If the river has flooded and has given plenty of fertility upgrades ... I'd say it's up to you. 3 housing is huge. Preventing droughts can be nice. Depending on your other districts, they can help with adjacent on a tile you might never place a normal district.

 

[Bosque]

I am currently playing a game as Dido. I am in the Future era, but have been unable to build a dam where I want one. Even though I have empty flood plains lining the Nile River (TSL Earth) when I try to build a dam I get the notification "No suitable location for a dam". Is this some bug in the TSL Earth map, or is is something else I haven't figured out about dam building?

 

[isau]

The way random events seem to work is the game uses a global system where each random event has a global chance of happening and the location is only selected once the event fires somewhere in the world. From what I can tell, with floods this works by going "let's do a flood somewhere!" and then selecting from the named rivers in the game. This is why a particular river could flood multiple times in one game or never. Because of this its hard to say which districts are worth it.

I do a lot of modding and my favorite river story so far is when I was testing a mod to combat units. I had a test Warrior unit and as often happens in test environments conditions weren't going perfectly--I accidentally misclicked and sent my test Warrior across the river instead of at the 2 enemy Warriors. I thought it would be no big deal but then when I ended turn the game rolled a 1000 year flood and all 3 units died. On turn 3 of the game.

 

[Mr. Shadows]

I like using dams, and I'm willing to bet they have their place but I also think they're situational. It's a lot of hammers just to protect districts that could have been placed somewhere else. On the other hand the extra housing (combined with food from flood plains) makes it tempting to take advantage of Pingala's pop bonus promotions.