Maintenance Cost of Nukes

[EmperorFool]

I saw the spiffy formula for calculating the maintenance cost of units, but it makes nukes cost 1 per turn which is ludicrous. I think there needs to be a special case for them or a more general boost in cost based on the resource requirements.

 

[Hubay]

I agree. I don't think it needs to be exorbitant – a nuke really would take a lot less money to maintain than a aircraft carrier, after all – but it shouldn't cost the same as a fishing boat or a club-warrior.

In slightly related news –what happened to meltdowns? Now that that Thal's got his events thing down, do you think it would be possible to implement a nuclear meltdown event?

 

[Thalassicus]

Thanks for mentioning this bug! I've only used nukes once or twice, so I didn't know the maintenance formula was borked for them.

When I add natural disasters I want to select realistic ones: fires, floods, droughts, famines, disease, and so on. These are widespread, and major ones are likely to happen to a civilization. Each one also provides opportunities to improve society. For example, after the Great Fire in London, the city was rebuilt with improvements to fire safety, like wider streets and building with brick instead of wood.

In comparison, damage or death from meteors, meltdowns, tornadoes and such is extraordinarily rare. They get more attention on TV and movies because they're dramatic, but it feels immersion-breaking when they have a significant influence on games like Civ or SimCity. I've copied some of my findings below.

Cost of damage:
$362 billion : fires in the US in 2008
$1.8 billion : tornadoes in the US in 2008
$20.5 billion : total nuclear accidents worldwide 1952-2009

Lifetime odds of dying from:
1 in 5 : heart disease
1 in 7 : cancer
1 in 70 : falling down
1 in 100 : car crash
1 in 300 : firearm
1 in 500 : disease
1 in 900 : fire
1 in 15,000 : famine
1 in 30,000 : flood
1 in 60,000 : tornado
1 in 130,000 : earthquake
1 in 200,000 : asteroid
1 in 500,000 : tsunami
1 in 10,000,000 : nuclear

 

[EmperorFool]

I could see adding national projects that you build once to mitigate the effects of some natural disasters.

For example, a once-a-game event like a tsunami normally causes -3:c5population: in each coastal city within its radius and randomly pillages coastal improvements. But if you build an early warning system you lose only 1:c5population:. Anyone with whom you have a DoF with will get the benefit and vice versa. It pays to be nice!

I do understand the desire to avoid huge random penalties, but I bet there are many players that would enjoy it if they were a game option.

 

[Jaybe]

Thanks for mentioning this bug! I've only used nukes once or twice, so I didn't know the maintenance formula was borked for them.

Yes: nukes, nukes, and guided missiles all have maint. cost problems. But the guided missile problem's in the other direction.

Just a reminder ... nudge nudge.