The iron works? Anyone built it?

[Frankyvas]

It's an ancient wonder, yet coal doesn't appear until you discover Rail Roads. I haven't been able to build it yet as most strategic resources don't appear together. It just seems that if you needed coal and iron, then coal should appear earlier.

Any thoughts on this from anyone.

Frank V.

 

[History_Buff]

i found it once or twice, but only through huge searching. But when combined with factories etc. its worth it. And it never seems to cause global warming, so build it.

 

[BlackTriad]

Finding Coal AND Iron close enough to encapsulate within one city radius is challenging with a default BIC and on random maps.
I have never accomplished this.

Though on the Huge Earth scenerio I have. History Buff is right though-If you can build it do so. It eventually causes a TON of pollution but it is well worth it. And do start it's production ASAP for if one of those recources dissapears before you do you will not be able to build the Iron Works in that city.

 

[eyrei]

I have only built it once, and it was most definately useful. After its completion, I built every wonder left in the game well before the other civs. I maxed it out at 186 shields per turn.

 

[Psychlone]

I've managed to build the iron works a few times. Getting coal and iron within one city radius can be quite a trick, to be sure. On the occasions I have managed to build it, I've never had both the iron and the coal survive until construction was complete, but it let construction continue once started. I would urge you to build it immediately should you find yourself able to, lest you kick yourself for waiting to build something else and having one of the resources disappear...

 

[-proletarian-]

That's exactly what just happened to me last night. I discovered a new source of coal near a city already with iron, and to my astonishment I was able to start construction of the Ironworks! This was big news for me, seeing as I've had the game since the first day it came out, and yet have never had the opportunity to build it before. So, there I was. I decided to finish the police station I was building there first, to speed up construction of the Ironworks. The what happens? The iron disappears! I was p-o'd, to put it mildly.

 

[rdomarat]

The only time I've ever been able to build the Iron Works was when I purposely build an additional city after I could see all the Iron and Coal on the map. The two resources would just fit into a city boundary, but weren't being shared by the same city. So, I built myself a settler and started a new city where I needed it. I rushed a Temple then an Aqueduct, and added eleven workers to the city. Six turns after nothing was there, I had a size 12 city with 10 culture which now had Iron and Coal inside it's borders. Since I'd already terraformed the land around the other cities, I had an instant city producing a decent amount of shields. I think I rushed a factory as well before my borders expanded and then built the Iron Works after that. As someone else pointed out, once the Iron works was built, every single Wonder built after that time was in that city.

 

[PaulNAdhe]

I built the Iron Works once. Combined with a Factory, Nuke Plant and Mfg Plant the output was over 200 shields per!!!

There was nothing I couldn't build as soon as I wanted.

If you get the chance, do NOT hesitate. Drop everything and build it

 

[chiefpaco]

I played 3-4 games before I even knew it existed. I saw it in the city build options & it's definitely worth it! Doubly sweet getting it too - my city that had it was a "Gap-Filler" city that I got revenge for the AI doing it to me!

 

[PanaGo]

Originally posted by -proletarian-
That's exactly what just happened to me last night. I discovered a new source of coal near a city already with iron, and to my astonishment I was able to start construction of the Ironworks! This was big news for me, seeing as I've had the game since the first day it came out, and yet have never had the opportunity to build it before. So, there I was. I decided to finish the police station I was building there first, to speed up construction of the Ironworks. The what happens? The iron disappears! I was p-o'd, to put it mildly.

The same thing happened to me!I started building it and the Iron disappeared! I didn't first noticed that and I was waiting for the damn thing to be built for 40turns. So, after waiting A LOT i check at the city. I see they need some 400+ turns to finidh Ironworks!Then I realise the iron is lost. At least if the mayor had informed me like "We can't build Iron works because we don't have Iron"...

 

[Clubber]

I thought once you started building something that needed a specific resource to be built, it would continue to be built even if you ran out of the necessary resource during the construction. I have built several units that required either Iron or Rubber, and they continued to build after my supply ran out, until they were completed. After that, I would not be able to build any more. I will assume that this is not possible while building the Ironworks.

 

[PaulNAdhe]

I've never had it happen when building the Ironworks, but I've also never had a unit stop building when it's resource ran out. But, I have lost Uranium when building that Space Ship part that needs it and that continued to build. So, I can't understand the Ironworks stopping when you lose a resource.

 

[connor]

I took a city once in a war because I had no coal, well the city also had iron in its resource box. Built the iron works, and sustained army building from that site to conquer much of the continent.

 

[Frankyvas]

So do you guys think that the Iron Works should be an Ancient wonder, after all, you can't even see coal until Railroads appear. That is my biggest gripe about it right now. You can't build it in the ancient times! (I know, I can use the editor and fix that.)

I was thinking to change it so that you needed perhaps at least 2 or 3 iron in your empire to be able to build it. Does anyone know if you can give a wonder that limitation (that is, you have to have more than # of a certain resource to build it)?

Frank V.

 

[Grey Fox]

Their actually is a location on the GOTM3 were you can build the Iron Works, I won't say anything more...

 

[sealman]

I have never been able to build the Iron Works. In fact, in my last for games almost all of the strategic resources have been in other civs.

It really sucks when you are the only civ to know about gunpowder but can not trade for salpeter

 

[Zouave]

It really produces!

 

[Salvor]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't recall anywhere seeing the Iron Works referred to as an "ancient wonder". I thought there were only two kinds of wonders in the game: Great Wonders and Small Wonders. I thought the Iron Works was a Small Wonder.

If it should be linked to any particular age, the Industrial Age is the one that makes the most sense to me.

I've built it twice, once was great and once was a total waste. The second time it was in an area I had conquered relatively late in the game. I had to found a new city to reach both resources, and corruption was rampant that far from my palaces so it never produced much. It wasted a lot of workers' time developing the area and wasted a GL rushing the works itself, and it never amounted to much.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

I love the Iron Works. When I came across it i the manual I just had to find a game in which to build it. I found a city in a game I was playing that could build it and so I did. After building an Mfg. Plant, Nuke Plant, Factory, and Mass Transit(pollution sucks) I built the Iron Works. I was making 239 shields per turn but I could only use 2 because the city was too far away from my capital. I had to use a great leader to rush the Palace there but after that every wonder was built in that city. It was AWESOME. During one point in late game I only had 5 cities to my enemies 24(around there at least) but since I stil had my super-city. I was pumping out a vet unit per turn from that city. Eventually, the war turned in my favor and I didn't stop there....

 

[Dirk Aurel]

Sounds pretty cool,have never built it,usually can´t be arsed settling a new city so far from my palace,mostly because of corruption. Can´t be arsed to do much of anything in these late stages of the game mind you
Building wonders with this thing must be cool,gonzo said he´d pump out a unit per turn,hm,20 turns 20 tanks,not really that much,considering the AI has every single city building tanks.I can hardly identify my territory after ten turns at this point of the game,so much shifting of borders etc.Why not let the Iron works produce the amount of units it could?Say a tank and if it fits an Infantry unit,or would this be too much of a bonus?

The wonder bonus sounds good enough though,will try to build it.