Iron Works

TinCow · January 10, 2002, 14:59

Has ANYONE ever had a city in which they could build this thing? It seems like a fabulous wonder that never ever gets built. What gives? I've played about 7 games so far and not been able to build it in a single city on any of them.

Green Giant · January 10, 2002, 15:06

It is a GREAT wonder and quite unbalanceing. I was able to build it twice and proceeded to build a bunch of mines around the city.
After I built the Iron Works I got every single Wonder after that, easy. Lots of pollution but its worth it. Makes a normal city a super-city

DilithiumDad · January 10, 2002, 15:11

You need to have iron and coal within a city radius. It is worth founding a new city on the right spot to take advantage of it. Most of the time, you will not "win the resource bingo" in this manner.

emjaycue · January 10, 2002, 15:17

I've gotten it once in several games...

But alas... three turns after I found the coal and could build it (and before I started building it b/c I was in the middle of something else) the iron disappeared.

Argh.

So I've gotten a "Iron Works... maybe we should..." pop up... but have never actually built it ;-)

--M

Ecthy · January 10, 2002, 15:30

I've never had coal and iron in one city before. Isn't that the precondition for Iron Works?

Also, why is Iron Works considered an Ancient Small Wonder? Coal doesn't appear before the industrial times

Dis · January 10, 2002, 15:44

I have built it twice. And I have only played about 5 games all the way through.

I always have cities near hills and mountains due to my world settings, this may increase the chances.

ICMB · January 10, 2002, 15:49

I've had two opportunities to build the Iron Works in about 17 games.

I had it once early on before I really knew what it was. In my most recent game, I was able to build it in my second-founded city. About 5 turns after I started building it, my coal source ran out and moved to somewhere else in my empire, but I was happily able to finish the Iron Works.

I ended up having the city perfectly stable at population 20, all happy, producing 202 shields per turn.

*sniff* I was so proud.

- ICMB

P.S. - When I get Steam Power I always go and check if any of my neighbors could make the Iron Works, and capture that city if need be. The production bonus is astounding.

Arrian · January 10, 2002, 15:52

I've built it twice (I've played more games now than I'd like to count). I had the option of building it a third time, but the city was totally corrupt (1 shield, and no hope for improvement), so I didn't. It gives you a nice production boost... Modern Armor in 1 turn is kinda nice (Ironworks, Factory, Nuc. Plant). But I wouldn't say it unbalances anything, or makes building wonders a lock. What does that is that you can "store" shields by starting a Palace and switching it to a wonder when you have the tech for it. That, and the human player's ability to manipulate the tech/tax slider to jump ahead in science while raking in cash (this doesn't apply to Diety, I assume, but it has been true for me, on Monarch).

-Arrian

Dis · January 10, 2002, 15:52

P.S. don't forget to build the nuclear power plant in this city

EnochF · January 11, 2002, 18:27

In the one game of Civ 3 I actually played out to the end, I did manage to build the Iron Works. It was decent, I guess. It was a lot easier to build new wonders in that city.

Kassiopeia · January 11, 2002, 18:33

I got the chance to build it in both my first and second game. I had not studied the Civilopedia that much, and figured it would just pollute, and never built it.
Oh, what a mistake. But I have learned, the painful way.

Quote:

What does that is that you can "store" shields by starting a Palace and switching it to a wonder when you have the tech for it

Yes. But what really ticks me off is when the rival civ gets Wonder X some two or even one turn before me.

Makes one miss rush building.

The Eliminator · January 11, 2002, 19:20

Two and a half solid months of playing, and I have yet to have the opportunity to build the Iron Works. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Grrr · January 11, 2002, 21:52

I had never built it until I changed the resource settings in Civ3mod.bic but now all my oponents get iron and other resources easily. So it is a difficult trade off. Maybe I may at one time get the luck using the normal rules to get to build it!

Skanky Burns · January 11, 2002, 22:02

Ive built the ironworks numerous times. Once it involved the razing of two ill-placed German cities, and the founding of a much better placed Greek city

But generally luck just happens.

Then other games i dont even get coal, let alone coal and iron near each other heh

Ironikinit · January 12, 2002, 03:29

In my current game, I have it. I only built the city to limit a couple of rival cities by rushing cultural wonders, and it was pretty marginal land.

However, that marginal land has iron and coal, of course, as well as gold... it's mostly hills and mountains... long story short, it produces armies in 4 or 5 turns, and is the home of the Hoover Dam.

It's the first time I ever got it. If you ever get the pop up alerting you that you can build it, start in right away, because resources can be fickle, as we all know.

Akka · January 12, 2002, 08:13

Quote:

Originally posted by The Eliminator
Two and a half solid months of playing, and I have yet to have the opportunity to build the Iron Works. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Try a standard-sized map with 16 cities. That's 16 of each ressources in the map, and chances go are that both iron and coal will be in an area.

Ecthy · January 12, 2002, 08:35

So there's a connection between number of Civs and times that ressources appear on a map?

I often find myself with several appearances of horse within my territory despite playing with 8 civs on a medium map only...

Akka · January 12, 2002, 08:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Ecthelion
So there's a connection between number of Civs and times that ressources appear on a map?

I often find myself with several appearances of horse within my territory despite playing with 8 civs on a medium map only...

Yes.
Basically, there is one ressource of each type for each civ in the game (except perhaps for luxuries), more or less - there is perhaps some variations.
I noticed it seeing the incredible stockpile of ressources in my commercial screen while playing a 16-civ game on a standard map.

Sean · January 12, 2002, 16:30

I have built it three times. One of those was in a conquered city. It really is "resource bingo" though. Of course other minor wonders are difficult to build, when it takes ages to get your first army.

Chowlett · January 12, 2002, 19:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Akka le Vil

Yes.
Basically, there is one ressource of each type for each civ in the game (except perhaps for luxuries), more or less - there is perhaps some variations.
I noticed it seeing the incredible stockpile of ressources in my commercial screen while playing a 16-civ game on a standard map.

What there is is:

At least one of each strategic resource per civ - maybe more (horses seem to be particularly common)
At most one of each luxury resource per civ, sometimes less

TinCow · January 12, 2002, 19:10

It seems like there is always more than one strategic resource per civ in the games I've played. It seems like if a civ is of average size on a standard map (maybe 10-12 cities), then it usually has all strategic resources within its control. I do agree that some seem more common than others though. In particular, horses, iron, and saltpeter seem to pop up all over the place. Perhaps that's because the designers knew there would probably be fewer civs around by the time aluminium and uranium was needed.