Realistic thoughts on power plants in SimCity 3000

Contributor/author(s): Justin Zeth

I've read over all the information I've seen submitted by others concerning power plants, as well as information is the strategy guides. But from my own gameplay experience, here are some general things I've learned about power plants:

• Even the "less pollutive" buildings are still pollutive and therefore can't be placed anywhere near residential or commercial zones. Any significant level of pollution wipes out surrounding land values.
• When considering how expensive a given plant is, it's very important to take into consideration how often you'll need to replace it.
• Nuclear meltdowns never happen unless you put your nuclear plant(s) under a lot of strain for a long period of time. In fact, I've run cities in which I've TRIED to make nukes melt down, and they do after a year or so of being run over capacity. But when plants even approach their capacity, Gus lets you know about it roughly every month, plus you're told well in advance when a plant is aging, so you'd have to be awfully negligent to let a nuclear meltdown happen. They very, VERY rarely just happen at random (it's never happened to me without cause).
• A note about power line: It's not very realistic, but I find it useful to run a strip of low density zoning (I usually use industrial) to carry power to distant areas instead of power lines. The advantage is that when you finally do develop such areas or decide to plant trees or place other buildings there (or especially roads, which you can build over zoning but you have to bulldoze power line first), it's a lot easier to get rid of. Of course, most of the zoning won't develop, but it will still carry power.

That having been said, here's my humble evaluation of power plants:

COAL: Definitely the best choice starting in 1900 and, if you don't mind building it a good distance away from the rest of the city, a fairly good choice even in later years. But the pollution is crippling; you have to put it far away from commercial or residential zones and preferably pad it with a thick layer of forest to help with the pollution. It's practically a must that it needs to be on the edge of the map.

OIL: I don't know why anyone would build an oil plant. Everything bad about coal is also bad about oil, but coal is cheaper.

GAS: Some people build gas plants on the basis that they're "a lot less pollutive". They still pollute, though, and are a heavy NIMBY building, so you still wind up having to keep them away from people. Which makes them just too expensive to be useful. Go with coal if you're not going to go with something completely clean.

NUCLEAR: As I said before, the only way you'll have a meltdown is if you fall asleep with the simulation running and it explodes from old age. Nuclear plants are one of the best sources of power for your buck if you don't mind the mere presence of nuclear power; a lot of people choose the aura benefit of the nuclear free zone ordinance instead. You should definitely have one or the other, the ordinance or nuclear power, at least until Fusion is available.

WIND: Wind is the worst choice of power with which to power your city because you'll need so many windmills that it becomes extremely expensive and extremely land consuming. However, windmills are extremely handy for powering structures like airports, seaports, and garbage facilities/NIMBY buildings like Toxic Waste Conversion Plant, etc. They're cheaper and more convenient than power line.

SOLAR: Solar is far too expensive in the long run to be the chief source of funding for your city, but since it doesn't carry a NIMBY effect it can be a good short term solution to power problems or give you the extra boost you need to keep up a neighbor deal. Also, it's nice to be able to build it anywhere instead of having to keep it away from your city, which is helpful if you don't map out your whole city in advance. When I use the "i am weak" cheat on a city, I usually give it solar power when it gets past 2000. I think it's a nice aesthetic touch, but unless your city is extremely rich it's too expensive to be a realistic power source.

MICROWAVE: It's not quite the wonderful thing it was in SimCity 2000. It slightly increases your overall risk of fire in your city, but a single fire isn't very threatening as long as you have decent coverage. Overall, it's an expensive source of power, but it's clean like solar plants and can be put anywhere. I usually build one and only one when it becomes available.

FUSION: Usually, by the time you get Fusion power, your city is rich enough to afford it, and if it is, you should definitely build one. Fusion plants provide a LOT of power for a LOT of money -- you'll only need a few of these to power your whole city, and they last a long time. Since they don't take up a lot of space in your city and last awhile, they're a very good long term investment to make. I usually make it a goal to put my city entirely on Fusion power as soon as I can afford it.

I'm not writing this as any sort of strategy guide or law of the land, but this is my realistic way of looking at things. Provided you're not using money related cheats, I think the choices are easily narrowed down to coal, nuclear, and microwave/fusion. From there it's up to personal preference.

See also
Ten points for the ultimate realistic city creation
Every mayor is different: improving your skills
Where to build your power plants
Power plants: which to build and which not to
Power plant output and costs
Clean power plants: which is best?
The true cost of energy
Cash for trash