New blog in Simcity Insider -Wind Farm

[Vampirovibrio 43]

According to the blog in Insider, the wind turbines needs to be built next to roads. I'm not referring to the wind farm building but rather the propeller blades structures. Why it needs to be built next to roads presumably due to agents. As we know with the new glass box engine, agents are sent out on roads to acquire or distribute resources. In cases of jobs and goods, I can understand the logic. However, it makes no sense to me that the actual wind turbines ( the structures with propellers) needs to be built next to roads. It makes more sense that the building that accumulates all the power ( wind farm) will need to be built next to roads both for jobs as well as distributing power.

The other things that are revealed in the blog - the amount of power generated by wind turbines is dependent on wind speed as well as elevation and also u will need university to research for the technology called " battery" so that u can presumably store excess power that can be used on days when wind conditions are not optimal.

One interesting tidbit that was also revealed is that apparently using the wind farms, u can tell which direction wind will blow and thus u can use the info not only in the placement if wind turbines but also where u place your commercial and residential areas as u want to place them in the area where the wind will blow pollution from your industrial area away from the residential/ commercial area. This suggest that u can control the pollution in your city to an extent. My concern is then with multi player mode, a player can potentially blow pollution to neighboring cities and the neighboring cities cannot do anything about it, at least not with the info we have now.

[daneoid 78]

"One interesting tidbit that was also revealed is that apparently using the wind farms, u can tell which direction wind will blow and thus u can use the info not only in the placement if wind turbines but also where u place your commercial and residential areas as u want to place them in the area where the wind will blow pollution from your industrial area away from the residential/ commercial area."

This is pretty silly, wind pushes the props on wind turbines, not the other way around...having said that, the concept that the power generated is dependant on the ammount of wind etc.. is pleasing to hear.

Still, I don't know of many wind farms located next to residential lots that have only 3 or 4 turbines.

[-JD- 41]

[Deleted post]

Back on topic; I love love love the vertical wind farm structures. Such a simple and elegant solution for power generation The interaction between the University and utilities is also an interesting addition that I rather like.

  Edited September 8, 2012 by Blue Lightning  

[The_City_Builder 299]

The wind mechanic sounds pretty neat.

[Sandis_van_Great 346]

strange that you must put them in direction of wind as, atlist in rl they rotate to the direction wind is

[alfanmuqafi23 37]

looking good for wind farms

[Skyrunner27 23]

According to the blog in Insider, the wind turbines needs to be built next to roads. I'm not referring to the wind farm building but rather the propeller blades structures. Why it needs to be built next to roads presumably due to agents. As we know with the new glass box engine, agents are sent out on roads to acquire or distribute resources. In cases of jobs and goods, I can understand the logic. However, it makes no sense to me that the actual wind turbines ( the structures with propellers) needs to be built next to roads. It makes more sense that the building that accumulates all the power ( wind farm) will need to be built next to roads both for jobs as well as distributing power

I believe they were referring to the small dirt road you see, if I remember correctly the dirt roads are part of the modular building.

But any way I think this will add a whole new aspect to the game instead of just plopping down your wind farm anywhere a getting the exact same amount of power. Also the way that wind effects pollution now you won't get a huge splotch of pollution it will be blown around and your citizens will not want to live down wind of the factories.

  Edited September 10, 2012 by qwertyasdfpunc  

[alexbill 77]

That's awesome! I see that Maxis is making good use of the power of this engine.

[Jokurr 175]

The wind mechanic sounds pretty cool imo.

[Rokugatsu 128]

Sounds really cool I wanna play already!

[mikeyb66 31]

It seems like they are adding in more RTS features, only being able to build certain things once they have been researched. Not sure how I feel about that, someways adds an intersting new feature, other ways turns into more of a game than a simulation.

[Rokugatsu 128]

Maybe because it is and always been a game...simulation game.

[Greyflame 54]

While this article was narrow in scope, I liked pretty much everything I read in it. We'll be losing a couple dynamics in the new title (terraforming etc) but the new ones look promising, and wind considerations are a neat thing to include. It suggests that elevation might become a resource itself, as high points would be optimal for wind farm construction. And I REALLY like the university/utility interaction. Schools and such felt a bit static in SC4; they increased your abstract education, and resulted in cleaner industry, but this will allow you to actively invest in your education system to improve utilities. I'm hoping that we'll be able to add more than four turbines to a given wind farm, and have some freedom to space them out a bit; I'd love to have a vast line of wind pylons spanning my highlands.

[Edit]: And to clarify what I think may be a couple misconceptions:

I don't think you need to face your turbines in any particular direction, just put them in "Stronger" wind, whichever direction it blows. In the process, they act as wind indicators, providing a wind-direction map so you have some idea of how best to place your housing to avoid airborne pollutants.

  Edited September 10, 2012 by Greyflame  

[grugor 60]

correct. the turbines will turn to face the direction of the wind which will also change direction from time to time i expect

[Cob92 360]

It seems like they are adding in more RTS features, only being able to build certain things once they have been researched. Not sure how I feel about that, someways adds an intersting new feature, other ways turns into more of a game than a simulation.

It's not an entirely unrealistic mechanic; a lot of research for the public good is conducted at universities. It's better than the mechanic in SC3K where features arbitrarily remained locked until you reached a certain year.