wind mills

[Brew God]

Hello Fellow Civ Fans,

Is using as many wind mills more effective in the long run for the economy rather than always building a mine on hills? are there advantages for using many wind mills I guess is the question.

Any thoughts would be great.

Brew God

 

[capnvonbaron]

Mines are far more effective in production cities and when you're still building things. Past replaceable parts, I start looking to put windmills in commerce cities, but usually only on riverside hills at first. A switch to universal suffrage is typically in order as well at that point, so you don't lose all production in those cities. If I get forced into environmentalism I'll consider putting more up, but mines typically still dominate my landscapes.

 

[nerdfighter13]

Windmills can be useful because they boost food and commerce, but I'll normally only build them on grassland hills. On plains and tundra hills, I will put a mine for production.

 

[lymond]

I usually only build them after Rep Parts. However, often what I do is pre-build them on appropriate hills and then complete them later when RP arrives.

When building windmills, you have to take a good look at the city specialization. Also, what victory are you going for. They are great for late space game to grow your cities onto even more production and specialists. Also good for late game Domination milking to just grow cities as large as possible for score. If going for fast military victory, windmills often just don't come into play and the extra production from mines is more valuable, especially in an HE city. Likewise, with Culture games, windmills are usually don't factor in much either.

I generally only place windmills on riverside hills, especially river grass hills, as they rock with windmills after Rep. Non-riverside hills are served best by mines, especially plains hills, and the boost they get from railroads. However, it depends on the growth needs of that city. If a windmill allows a production city to grow onto another mine, then the net affect on production is higher.

Pre-Rep windmills would be rare for me. Only in the case of a city sorely lacking in food.

 

[traius]

I generally only place windmills on riverside hills, especially river grass hills, as they rock with windmills after Rep. Non-riverside hills are served best by mines, especially plains hills, and the boost they get from railroads.

This is completely backwards to me. I think getting a food out of any hill is really important, as windmills are generally well after happy-cap issues for me, and as such I want my cities to grow. As for the later part on building them on the riverside and not on non-riverside (and perhaps this is only because I try to get MoM and Taj and 2 other specialist golden ages per game), I find it really important that every tile gets some production and some commerce, so getting that 1 commerce from the non riverside hill is really important.

 

[babar]

Between Replaceable Parts and Railway, windmills are strictly better I think. Even after Rails I prefer windmills, and to get production from watermills and workshops.

 

[WelshGandalf]

Being financial makes a difference too - riverside windmills will get you 3 commerce from as soon as they are available to build.

 

[lymond]

This is completely backwards to me. I think getting a food out of any hill is really important, as windmills are generally well after happy-cap issues for me, and as such I want my cities to grow. As for the later part on building them on the riverside and not on non-riverside (and perhaps this is only because I try to get MoM and Taj and 2 other specialist golden ages per game), I find it really important that every tile gets some production and some commerce, so getting that 1 commerce from the non riverside hill is really important.

Well, I said "generally", not golden rule. It about analyzing your city and land. If adding a Rep windmill to a non-riverside hill will allow it to grow to increase production or run specialists, then I may do it. If that 1 food really isn't going to add anything and only nerf production then I will ignore. Depends a lot on the type of city. Some production cities are better served with mines even at the expense of slightly faster growth.

+1 commerce from a non-riverside windmill is very insignificant late game with large empires. You get more out of building wealth with a mine.

..and don't get me wrong. I love windmills and build a ton of them after Rep if my games go that long, as well as watermills and workshops

 

[babar]

^^Remember electricity adds a few more commerce to windmills. I hadn't considered Rep a factor since I'm always in it late game, so that explains my preference for them.

 

[lymond]

oh...by Rep I meant Rep Parts. Should have said RP

 

[ohjames]

Riverside windmills are nice for Financial leaders. Otherwise I don't bother with them, unless I'm playing some wacky National Park strategy for kicks and giggles. Green hills can run cottages around your commerce cities, and you shouldn't have many brown hills around your commerce cities, so windmills are fairly superfluous.

 

[damerell]

Is using as many wind mills more effective in the long run for the economy rather than always building a mine on hills? are there advantages for using many wind mills I guess is the question.

1) Do you want commerce or hammers more?
2) How late in the game is it? Mines improve only slightly, at Railways; but windmills improve considerably with Electricity and, if you switch to it, Environmentalism. Additionally if you are at Universal Suffrage, town hammers and rush-buying can provide an alternative source of production; or with the right techs, watermills and workshops are strong on flatlands.

 

[elmurcis]

Need food - windmills, food enough - mines, food enough but need commerce (green hills) - cotages (rarely but have done that few times)..

 

[babar]

It's basically vs if you use the to fund half a Rep scientist.

There are other uses of course (making windmills more versatile), but this is the way I think of it.

Most of my good production cities end up with commerce multipliers for one reason or another so I find "city specialization" means little outside of NW cities. If it's a marginal city with little more than a forge, dedicated to building wealth, then windmills are clearly better anyway.

It's not clear cut or anything, but I prefer windmills in all but Ironworks for the most part.

 

[AdamCrock]

Windmillss suck better off building a decent mine and be done with it Just kidding



Make sure that Your windmill is next to the river (on hill) and You are a warmonger running state property otherwise it's a waste of time and worker's turns

That's all that there is to it Think of a Grand Strategy instead wasting Your time thinking where to put those mills eh ?

 

[capnvonbaron]

Make sure that Your windmill is next to the river (on hill) and You are a warmonger running state property otherwise it's a waste of time and worker's turns

... is this out of some Attacko manual?

 

[AdamCrock]

... is this out of some Attacko manual?

Nah it's just out of my head Anyway windmills would be beneficial to financial leaders with electricity running represantaion (or enviro) during a golden age - it's only so much commerce You can pump out of a hill anyway better of with mine and farms/cottages unless You got a food shortage imho

 

[iggymnrr]

Depends on the map. Highlands has a lot of hills. Early game will see a smattering of mines but if Environmentalism is the goal, windmills start going up sooner than normal. My personal record for a windmill game is ~300. But most other maps won't allow for this kind of volume.

 

[rfcfanatic]

I usually build windmills in places like Tibet or western US on Earth map.

 

[DrakeD]

im usually busy with drafting rifles and wipping cannons on this stage of the game. So I guess windmills suck??? Railroad is pretty close, and that will give workers enough to do.