Offshore Platforms

[michael4000]

Has anybody ever taken a methodical look at whether or when Offshore Platforms are a good investment? I know that some like them and some don't (and, yes, that some never let the game get out of the Medieval Age ), but has anybody done some analysis? I tried a forum search, but didn't see anything...

 

[El Duderino]

I would say, that, yes, they are a good investment, for certain cities. By the time you can get them, you're production in cities should be amplified by at least 100% by Factories and Power Plants. In coastal cities, where many shieldless water tiles are, the extra production, improved by factories and whatnot, will really have a big effect. I would say go ahead with it in big, important coastal cities, however it may be a waste of resources in smaller, less important cities.

 

[Arathorn]

VERY context dependent. Depends on, at least:
- Number of turns remaining in the game
- Current shield output of the city (near a threshhold for faster unit production?)
- Number of water squares that will be affected

The tech, Miniaturization, is not a required tech for the space race (pre-C3C), so I've rarely even been presented with the question.

My gut says most of the time it won't have enough time to pay back (8 turns to build to cut build time for units from 5 turns to 4 turns means a fairly distant payback horizon, not counting the value of units now is greater than units in the future), in most cases. In some cases, it could be huge, but you really should evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

Arathorn

 

[Theoden]

As long as at least about one-third of the squares used is water and the city is at least one of your lesser cores then build it. It won't gain many shields alone but with factories and power plants it can be really powerful.
This is of course if you are not completely fixed on a space victory.

Theoden

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

For SEA Civs, they're nearly always worth it .

 

[michael4000]

Thanks for the superfast thoughts so far, guys. I totally agree with Arathorn that it's very context-dependent -- so much so that I am intimidated to break out the pencil and paper and run numbers. I also agree that they are probably superfluous in a game that is going really well, or heading to Alpha Centauri. But, as a player who is often still struggling slowly towards victory in the late game, I think in practice that I usually play like Theoden is suggesting, using them with factories where there is maybe 40%+ water squares...

 

[Abaddon]

is it me, or did you get them a lot earlier+ they were much more inportant to Civ2?

also.. where did the discovery of farming go?