Show us your.............. Fires!

[Duke87 1,070]

As a scientifically-minded person, I have an issue with the game's "nuclear explosions". No nuclear power plant under any circumstance is ever capable of making a mushroom cloud, not even a small one. First off, (in the real world, anyway), the reactors have huge thick walls which are not only fireproof but designed to withstand a direct hit from a 747. So if the plant does catch fire and burn to the ground, the potential for even just a little fallout is small. At Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the problem started inside the reactor itself. If a reactor overheats, all the water and coolant in the system will boil, causing a lot of pressure buildup which may be significant enough to blow a hole in the protective shell. Even then, you can potentially have lots of fallout (as with Chernobyl), but there will never be any nuclear explosion.

In order for an atomic bomb to work, it requires very precisely placed and times application of large inward forces of a sample of fissionable material (usually Uranium-235 or Plutonium-244). The result is that a fission reaction occurs at an extremely high rate, resulting in a massive release of radiation and heat. While a reactor in a nuclear power plant is performing exactly the same reaction, it is doing so on a much smaller scale, and the equipment needed to make it occur on a atom-bomb level scale is not present.

But apparently, the existance of gratuitous explosions is more important than the fact that such explosions are impossible in the given scenario.

Having coal power plants leave craters is somewhat realistic, though, since the plant likely has large ammounts of coal stored on sight, and if the dust from it gets touched off, it can combust pretty rapidly. Something similar can be said of Natural Gas Plants. Oil Plants, though, should not create craters since oil doesn't explode like that. If oil inside a tank catche s fire, the resulting pressur buildup can cause the tank wall to rupture, and therfore can cause flaming drops of oil to spray all over the place, but not something that would leave a crater. Though, after the intial spray, any oil still in the tank above the level of the puncture would spill out, catching fire as it exits, thus creating mniature rivers of flaming oil in the downhill direction ir, if the ground is level, the downwind direction. While that woud certainly be quite fun to watch, it wouldn't be possibe to incorporate into simcity 4 for several reasons. First,  the program probably isn't smart enough to recognize which way is downhill and how a liquid would flow along it. And it certainly isn't smart enough to make it flow faster down steeper hills. Second, especially due to the issue of it creating flaming oil slicks if it hits water, it woud require a lot of new animation (and thus a lot of work). Third, since the game has no concept of wind, there really isn't much you can do on level ground.

Final note: Whaddya mean "Woops, my downtown burnt?" If you're playing the game properly at all, fires should only occur when you start them.

[Architects Asylum 0]

I'll see if I can get some fires going...

I had I really good one once. A quarter of a large city, all on fire!

[teddyrised 1]

Showing you simcity4's flawed nuclear powerplant explosion, as pointed out by Duke87:

Sorry for the small images... I've deleted the region long time ago, along with all the original photos. These are the ones found in my backup from my blog.

[jacqulina 162]

wow that is sure some excellent fires and explosions

[newyorkstate 6]

Wow! This is a great thread! Excellent!

[AtkinsSJ_ 7]

Duke, if I remember right it said somewhere that Maxis knew that those explosions never happen, but that there had to be a consequence for not taking care of your Nuclear Plants. This is a game, after all.

[+Guest]

Hey we all need a hobby.So some folks like to watch Game buildings burn it's better then burning down something in the Real World.

 If it makes you feel good keep the pics coming.

[Tommy_Vercetti3 3]

I agree with Duke87 to some point. And i also agree with Eskiman too about it just being a game. Didnt Maxis try to create realism? Guess not though.

PS I have no fires yet.

[HunterIrked 1]

Originally posted by: chocolatemax285 Well, I saw this on the homepage, and thought it might to be fun to get involved.

This is an edited image from the latest update of my CJ, found on page 33.  A bombing occurs in Green Depra.  This is just one image of the horrible explosion and fire....quote>

Thats a really cool image, but why are the people running towards the burning building?

[tjperry88 24]

I would add my terrible fires which burned down an entire city but I do not have the images anymore since I deleted all my albums after updating my last city journal. Maybe there will be another great disaster in the lands of the Union of Wayne County and fires will dominate once again and reclaim a place in the albums' and then add them to this thread. (I think I am going to do this now on purpose since the last fire was natural.)

[Daddy-O 1]

Nice pix. Now if I could just figure out how to upload a picture I could add to this most excellent thread.

[Fischbob 9]

This was actually the first fire in my cities that I had not started myself. I decided to incorporate it into my CJ.

[woodlm 3]

Isn't it ironic when the member takes their namesake from an event that can cause fires? (Storms)

Onto the fire....

My powerplant caught fire and my trucks could'nt reach it! I was frustrated that the whole city was w/o power and abandoning as a result.... I think I used robots to destroy the rest of it. (Maybe only one of 2 times I've done so.) 

[scba 179]

Can they be fire...balls?

[Rowentych 0]

Holy... That last one is crazy, it looks like a scene from "Independance Day".

[Saiyanz2000 1]

As recognized by Duke87 it is true that Nuclear Powerplants in real life can never have a explosion the reasons provided by him and that Powerplants aren't allowed to have enough nuclear materials to where they may reach Critical Mass and set off a chain reaction.

--- just wanted to give my 2 cents =p

other than that this is a pretty interesting thread more fires!

"Burn baby Burn"

[mightygoose 92]

scba that last one rocks

[Constantina 5]

Originally posted by: terrymunweihao Showing you simcity4's flawed nuclear powerplant explosion, as pointed out by Duke87:

Sorry for the small images... I've deleted the region long time ago, along with all the original photos. These are the ones found in my backup from my blog.quote>

Great images. But is there a way to make nuclear explosions bigger?

[mrbisonm 1,620]

Impossible to make a nuclear explosion bigger unless you re-design the whole scenery and I don't think that we have the know-how, nor the the people nor the interest for this here on ST. Shame though...could've been something different to get rid of a whole city that we don't like....

[rodent1989 9]

i liked what duke 87 said about flaming streams of hot oil, that would be sweet.  SC5 perhaps... but i wish i had a pisture of the one bad fire i had...i had like 4-5 cola power plants and a nuke all in a corner of the sity, and they caught on fire while i was on the phone.  Then i came back just in time to see the nuke blow up.  Even if it is impossible...i like that explosion...

[Psycho_Teddy 25]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Dirk just told you storms!!! (bows to Dirk)

Nice one chocolatemax! You got the pic as the building was collapsing! Kewl...

[Psycho_Teddy 25]

Where on earth did you get that custom newsticker chocolate?! That is awesome!!!

[A199999999 0]

Scuba: Nice explosion!

Here is two pictures of a coal power plant on fire and then exploding.

[nycsc4 5,250]

cool thread, this a picture from my City Journal, The United Cities of Chesterfield.  I am not sure how this started and the fire department could not get there either, eventually it put its self out, thank god, would have been a shame to loose my whole airport.

[storms991 0]

woodlm : your name catches on fire....................and is the source of more fires than those caused by storms

Psycho_Teddy : Hmm, where are ur fires, please dont double post.

[nycsc4 5,250]

storms - like dirk said, if you don't like the thread stay out...

[hamsterTK 93]

this isnt really a game fire, but rather something i photoshopped for my cj. but it still looks cool. Its a bomb going off on a few floors of a building"\

(the pic may not work for IE users since it is a png and sorry if you are on dialup and it slows you down. This pic is sort of old and im not going to replace it anytime soon

[lucashp 1]

storms991: You say why make a useless thread? I say, Why are you making useless posts?

[Compromise 1]

Originally posted by: scba

quote>

 

That is brilliant. The best SC picture I have seen in a while. Bunnies for you.

Originally posted by: storms991 where are ur firesquote>

[Norwegian Neko 12]

Sweet! I want to blow up my cities now!