Fires seem too easy to put out

[leftbehind]

Fires seem way too easy to put out, even on big factory buildings, despite me having hardest setting for fires. As soon as a single truck arrives, the fire is out within seconds even if it's been burning a long time. My fire helicopters are practically useless because fire is often extinguished before they finish filling their water bucket.

Note: I play game with research off, so I don't know if doing that has automatically researched some fire mitigation bonuses?

IMO, fires should be more difficult based on:

1. Fire duration

If fire engines arrive quickly, the fire is small and easier to tackle. If they arrive late, whole building should be in flames and much harder to tackle.

2. Building size

A bigger building should pose a more complex fire challenge than a small one. A large factory or warehouse fire could take **several days** to get under control and put out, where as a small trash can fire would be trivial to extinguish.

3. Construction materials

Construction materials used to create the building should have an effect on rate of fire spread and difficulty to extinguish. A wooden building would burn much quicker than a steel/concrete building. I suspect game already implements this, although it's not particularly noticeable to player.

3. Construction stages

Scaffolding would identify multiple parts of a building that could independently catch fire. Resources used in the construction stage determines if the part can catch fire, and rate of spread. A fire in one part could ignite adjacent parts of not tackled quickly enough. If multiple parts are on fire, more fire crews would be needed to tackle them simultaneously, otherwise they could reignite previously extinguished parts.

4. Building height

Short buildings should be easier to tackle than tall ones. Would be neat if there was a .ini setting for fire engines to define suitability for tall buildings (eg. ladder trucks) and some way for community to share mods that tweak ini files of older fire engine assets to add the required properties for this new feature.

5. Resource flammability / complexity

Type of resource in the building should affect how quick fire spreads and how hard it is to extinguish. A coal or clothes fire would spread quick, but relatively easy to extinguish. A fuel fire would spread faster and be harder to extinguish. Certain resources would increase risk of catastrophic explosion. I might have two identical warehouses, but the way they burn depends on what's in them.

6. Halt production

Not sure if this already happens; I don't see it as a player at least. Factory fire should visibly halt production (even if it's just icon that appears over affected buildings/vehicles). Storage fire should clog factories & supply chains associated with the storage. House fire should have residents standing in the streets around building (should be possible with the new citizen queue mechanic devs are working on).

7. Wear & Tear

After fire, wear and tear should be at least same as whatever percentage the fire reached. An 80% fire should mean building is at least 80% wear & tear.

8. Fire spread

A big or long-burning fire should run risk of igniting nearby buildings / trees. Number of fire crews on scene would reduce this risk.

8. Tree/forest fires

Risk of tree/forest fire would primarily depend on weather: Snow = zero; rain (or just afer) = low; long dry spell = high risk. Burning building could ignite nearby trees, which would then ignite other trees resulting in forest fire if not tackled quickly. Burning trees could also ignite nearby buildings. Tree fire spread would be slow (maybe adjusted on temperature and wind speed?) to limit how many trees are on fire at any given time.

tl;dr: I want some fire-induced panic moments in the game.

[Beast of War]

Well, speak for yourself :-))

In my nation building regularly burn to the ground because they can't get there in time ( traffic jam, slow traffic ) or i din't pay attention to range, especially for farms and bus connected remote of the city industries. Sometimes these get their own bus connected fire station but that does come at the expense of workers that could work in the factory.
Helicopters can solve that for some part but still they sometimes for some reason do not react either.

I do not want to deselect fires because of reality but i also do not like them potentially shutting down my entire economy. A lot of industries or buildings have the habit of behaving like a chain and one link failing means the entire economy comes down. One burnt down electrical station, heating infrastructure, distribution office or warehouse and such can be enough to depopulate an entire nation. And there are already settings you can do to make that more frequent and inventions ( you could not do ) to make it more dangerous.

I am not against you getting what you want ofc, but i won't be switching that option on :-)

[T600_Mod]

I lost 64 construction vehicles to their lots burning down before i got people into my town, this playthrough in year one, and with no earthquake,

[ginugagap]

I also thought fires were to easy, never built large firestations, but i guess ths is why they put in earthquakes so there is a reason for good fire station coverage and maintnenance.

[leftbehind]

Originally posted by Beast of War:

In my nation building regularly burn to the ground because they can't get there in time ( traffic jam, slow traffic ) or i din't pay attention to range, especially for farms and bus connected remote of the city industries.

I tend to have several tiny fire stations spread around the city, rather than fewer big ones. I've found that helps because there's usually a fire station close to where the fire happens. Road signs help a lot, particularly to separate out cars vs. trucks in different areas.

Originally posted by T600_Mod:

I lost 64 construction vehicles to their lots burning down before i got people into my town, this playthrough in year one, and with no earthquake,

IMO fires should be scaled down at the start of the game, particularly in realism mode. Or maybe have some way to pull in outside help; like services available from the border checkpoint or smth?

Originally posted by ginugagap:

I also thought fires were to easy, never built large firestations, but i guess ths is why they put in earthquakes so there is a reason for good fire station coverage and maintnenance.

I've yet to experience earth quake so no idea how it works. I imagine it's mostly building damage with a few random fires thrown in too? Or is it like entire city burns to ground?

[bballjo]

Fires aren't extinguishible with 1 fire trucks for all buildings. Larger industries like coal/steel will require a few extra trucks, otherwise you won't control it.

If you have adequate fire coverage, you will always be fine.

If you think you have adequate coverage, trigger a huge earthquake, and see if it handles that.

For effective fire coverage, you also need good building maintenance, high deterioration means accelerated fire damage.

All that to say, I don't think so.

[MrKrabs]

I recently experienced a fire that couldn't be extinguished by a single truck. I called in a chopper from far away to assist. Them together solved the job.

I love the thrill.
Imo if it's to easy one I loose interest.
So it's on me the player to make my republic safe to be sure that all fires will be extinguished in time.

[leftbehind]

Yeah, it's that brief panic and overcoming the problem that is super rewarding. Like, first winter I experienced in the game - I had no heating, my roads siezed up due to lack of snowplows, etc. Even using rubles to get the buildings and vehicles as quick as possible, I just barely made it through. I would expect fires to be similar, particularly in big factories that are part of a supply chain, but really I've yet to experience any fire that isn't put out within seconds of the first fire truck arriving. Like, I'd expect a big fire to be like a bad winter, but opposite end of temperature gauge. Instead I got my coal industry on fire - huge building, full of coal, and a single fire truck put it out within seconds of arrival, and I was just "meh", like, it was a real let down. It would be like solving snow with a single small heat plant and a single snowplow. I shouldn't have to trigger an earthquake just to stress my fire service.

[dazkaz]

I once had multiple fires at the same time, in the same area, that obviously required multiple appliances in the station to attend.
I also had the bus station that was supplying the workers for the fire station burn down, just before another fire at my warehouse, meaning no one was available to put it out.
I have also had power transformers burn down killing my entire town.

Since these events I have tried to have more fire coverage. More of all the different, important infrastructure in fact. Also the bigger buildings do require more appliances to extinguish than smaller ones.

I personally think the fire settings are about right as they are.

Something else I have started doing, is having a small fast fire engine, that can get to the fire quick, and the bigger slower ones, that have a better fire fighting stat.
This seems to help a bit, and feels quire realistic.

[T600_Mod]

my single well burnt down and now everyone is out of water until it is fixed, it will take time as the highways are under renovation

[Blueberry Muffins!]

It's not a burning-building simulator, might as well complain that you don't see the doors on things open when people enter and leave, or that trains magically reverse, or or or. The gameplay's not offering how-to-put-out-fires puzzles, it assumes those are taken care of and is just offering stage-set-level detail to fill in the backdrop while you build the socialist paradise (or hellhole, I guess, if you want) of your dreams and solve logistical and design and balance puzzles.

[T600_Mod]

I am not complaining, I actually really like the challenge of the fires, it seems mostly balanced

Im just stating, at the start or always there should be more foriegn workers at the border, so you can build a firestation right away and have it manned without taking too much away from construction

[MrKrabs]

A good strategy might be as follows:

- Have a fire station ready, equiped, electricity, fuel, not manned.
- Have a bus near the customs ready to kick of from customs to fire station.
- Start the bus just in case of fire.

My personal strategy is:
- Have a fire station ready (near water), electricity, fuel, not manned, equiped with one chopper only.

[Strategic Sage]

On the OP, I view this as similar to the other mechanics. The challenge is having enough fire protection in the right places, just like public transport stations, shopping centers, and so forth. You pay a price for being prepared, or else pay a worse price later for not being prepared.

[MrKrabs]

Originally posted by Strategic Sage:

On the OP, I view this as similar to the other mechanics. The challenge is having enough fire protection in the right places, just like public transport stations, shopping centers, and so forth. You pay a price for being prepared, or else pay a worse price later for not being prepared.

That nails it.
Excellent statement imo.

[Starman]

Fires are just system check mechanic. Did you set up correctly your firefighting system? If yes, you are fine. If not, your technical services will soon have a plenty of work.