Anno in-depth: Powerplant Island

A step-by-step walkthrough to build a high-capacity energy producing island to supply your other islands with energy. In this guide we will be introducing three types of Powerplant Islands: a basic one, a slightly more advanced one and the high-end one.

Keep in mind that this walkthrough is mainly of interest for those who are playing within a large map and owning multiple islands with high numbers of inhabitants. The Deep Ocean DLC is required for this walkthrough.

Introduction

Energy is needed throughout every game of Anno 2070. When you find yourself within a large map, owning multiple islands to maintain your ever growing number of inhabitants, space can be of an issue. Especially underwater plateaus are known to be small, irregular and in some cases hard to supply with the much needed energy to keep your factories running. Outsourching your energy production is the ideal solution for these sort of problems. With the introduction of the Deep Ocean DLC, the Energy Transmitter was introduced to the game, making it possible to transfer energy from one island to another. This building will form the backbone for this guide.

Image 1: Energy Transmitter

Requirements

In order to succesfully implement a Powerplant Island, the following basic requirements have to be met:

• The Deep Ocean DLC.
  
• You are currently playing within a (probably large, continuous) map with both the Tech as well as the Tycoon factions enabled (you are probably playing with all factions at this stage).
  
• At least 250 Tycoon Engineers and at least 1 Genius have to life within your game in order to unlock the required basic buildings.
  
• A sufficient supply of Building modules, Tools, Concrete, Steel and Carbon to be able to build the required buildings.
  
• A small island with a couple mine sites, preferably with ability to harvest Uranium (Uranium mine sites are a must for the basic version, though not required for the advanced and high-end layout).

As you have probably have guessed by now, the actual energy production will be generated by Nuclear Power Plants.

Keep in mind that the requirements mentioned here are for the basic model of a Powerplant Island. To build the advanced and high end models more requirements will have to be met. These additional requirements will be discussed later on in this guide.

Image 2: Nuclear Power Plant

Basic Model

So now it is time to actually build a Powerplant Island. For this, we first need an island, obviously. For this walkthrough I have chosen for a small island with Uranium mine sites which I am not going to use for either housing and/or production activities. As said before, these are required for the basic model, though optional for the advanced and high-end models. This island will be used in each of the models.

Image 3: Island to be used to house the energy production facilities

To create a basic setup for a Powerplant Island, all we need to build for now are some Uranium Mines, Fuel Element Factories and Nuclear Power Plants. Besides these buildings, the Energy Transmitter has to be build as well. Since I have 3 mine sites available on my island, I will be building 3 Uranium Mines, 3 Fuel Element Factories and 3 Nuclear Power Plants, since these buildings all work at a rate of 1:1:1 with each other.

Image 4: Basic Model global setup

With all 3 Nuclear Power Plants running at default settings, a gross enery production of 1,500 units is realised. The net production (gross production - energy used by building on the islands = energy available to transfer to another island) currently hits around 1,450 units. From personal experiences, the net production can hit up to about 95% of the gross production.

Advanced Model

Slightly based on the basic model which we discussed earlier, the advanced model of a Powerplant Island is more like extension of the basic model. Rather than using Uranium mines to harvest the required Uranium, we will now use Uranium Metal Converters. Choosing for this setup brings some key advantages. As shown in the previous sections, the island we're currently using only holds 3 mine sites, which are only capable of supplying 3 Nuclear Power Plants. Using Uranium Metal Convertors, we can not only extent the number of mine sites, but double the production as well: 1 Uranium Metal Converter can supply not 1, but 2 Nuclear Power Plants.

Image 5: An Uranium Metal Converter harvesting Uranium from a Black Smoker

Additional requirements

In order to build this model, both the basic requirements and the following additional requirements have to met:

• A Submarine to claim an underwater plateau as well as a (trade) ship or submarine to transport Uranium from your underwater plateau to your Powerplant Island.
  
• At least 750 Researchers in order to be able to build all the required buildings.
  
• A small to medium sized underwater plateau, holding Black Smokers which yield Uranium.
  
• Large amounts of Tools and Building Modules (each Uranium Metal Converter requires 50 tons of Building Modules and 30 tons of Tools)

Futher setup of the Advanced model

For now I am going to use 4 Uranium Metal Converters. This number can be adjusted to your liking. Together with the 4 Uranium Metal Converters, I am going to keep the 3 Uranium Mines running as well. You can either choose to combine Uranium Metal Converters and Uranium Mines for more Uranium production, leading to more energy production, or you can use the mine sites on your island for other purposes (mining other resources, CO2 Reservoir, Monitoring Station, etc.).

Together with the 4 Uranium Metal Converters (which have the same production rate as 8 Uranium Mines), I now actually have 11 Uranium Mines operating, which can produce enough Uranium to keep 11 Nuclear Power Plants running (all at default settings), resulting in a very decent 5.500 gross energy production.

Image 6: Advanced Model global setup

As you might have noticed, some restructuring has taken place in order to fit all the buildings on the island as efficient as possible. As noticed before, the 3 Uranium Mines (11 including the Uranium Metal Converters) provide enough Uranium to keep 11 Fuel Element Factories and 11 Nuclear Power Plants running, producing 5.500 gross and 5.417 net energy units.

High-end Model

The High-end Model can be seen as an extention on an existing Advanced Model. Whereas the Advanced Model is purely used for the production of energy, the High-end Model incorporates another product of Uranium in its cycle: Heavy Weapons. These Heavy Weapons are used for high tier weapons as well as some ships, submarines and aircrafts.

Image 7: An Arsenal, capable of producing Heavy Weapons

Additional requirements

1.200 Tycoon Engineers are needed to be able to build the Heavy Weapons production line. No futher requirements have to be met when all the requirements for the basic and advanced model have been met. Keep in mind though that for this high-end model, even larger amounts of building materials such as Tools, Building Modules, Concrete and Steel are needed in order to build all the buildings.

Futher setup of the High-end model

As said before, the High-end model is based on the Advanced model, but incorporating the Heavy Weapons production line within it. To demonstrate the maximum capabilities of the island and underwater plateau I am currently using, I now have 3 Arsenals running to produce Heavy Weapons and extended the number of Nuclear Power Plants to 16. For now this is the maximum I can create with the available space both on the island itself as well as the underwater plateau I am using to collect resources from.

Image 8: High-end Model global setup

With 16 Nuclear Power Plants running at default settings, a whopping 8.000 gross energy units is produced. The current net energy production is hitting a very decent 7.821 energy units. This should be more than enough to supply multiple large island with more than enough power.

Summary of the buildings in use for this layout

Island:

• 16 Nuclear Power Plants
  
• 17* Fuel Element Factories
  
• 3 Coal Mines
  
• 6 Iron Melters
  
• 3 Explosives Factories
  
• 3 Arsenals

Underwater plateau:

• 12* Uranium Metal Converters
  
• 4 Iron Metal Converters

(*) see the +1 rule, explained in the Tips & Tricks section of this guide.

Using this setup, both the energy production line and the Heavy Weapons production line are running smoothly.

Tips & Tricks

Is your island not functioning properly? Are you looking for more energy output? Here are a few tips & tricks to make your Powerplant Island even better.

Aquire stock before starting the continuous process

The title might not be clear for all of you, but it comes down to the following: the buildings that we assembled in the previous sections of this guide are all well-balanced, working in a production chain. In order to keep that chain flowing smoothly, make sure that there are always resources available for each building. A small example to strenghten the idea behind this advice:

The Uranium Mine, the Fuel Element Factory and the Nuclear Power Plant all work well in a 1:1:1 configuration. However, starting all three of them at the same moment causes a continuous waiting game: the Uranium Mine starts collecting Uranium, but the Fuel element has to wait on that Uranium. Once a small amount of Uranium is processed to a Fuel Element, the Fuel Element Factory has to wait again on new Uranium to be delivered. Same goes for the Fuel Element Factory and the Nuclear Power Plant. In conclusion: something that is designed as a smooth continuous process grinds to an hold. The solution? Build up some stock before going on to the next step in the proces. First, build an Uranium Mine and build up a small stock of raw Uranium. After the stock is created, a Fuel Element Factory can jump into action, without having to wait on new batches of Uranium. Same again goes for the Fuel Element Factory and the Nuclear Power Plant. Success garanteed.

Building up a stock before completing the whole production chain is a must when working with the Advanced or High-end Model of the Powerplant Island, since these models require transportations of goods between multiple islands.

Watch your ecobalance

Since we are building a lot of building, especially Tycoon Buildings, your ecobalance will suffer under the weight of all those polluting factories. Building some buildings which boost your ecobalance will reduce the chance of natural disasters hitting your Powerplant Island.

More information about maintaining your ecobalance can be found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=155377671

The +1 rule

To minimalize any form of production breakdown caused by a lack of resources, I always apply the +1 rule. Lets say you have 8 Uranium Metal Converters installed to provide your Powerplant Island with all the needed Uranium. These 8 Uranium Metal Converters are in perfect balance with the rest of the buildings in the production chain. To keep the production process up at any time, I always build one extra Uranium Metal Converter to be able to cope with unforseen events such as transportation issues, energy failures, natural disasters, etc. If these extra resources are not used, you can simply either sell them every now and then, or store them on another island as an emergency stock.

(Island-wide) upgrades

Since we are using a specialized island and a select number of buildings for the production of energy, we can use some very useful island-wide upgrades (instead of Ark upgrades) to boost the energy production and reduce the chance of a meltdown. Here are a few essential upgrades which I would highly recomment:

Icon	Name	Effect
	Fast breeder reactor	Increases the productivity of each Nuclear Power Plant by 15%. Given that a Nuclear Power Plant normally produces 500 energy units, it will now produce 75 units extra, given a total of 575 units per Nuclear Power Plant. This island-wide upgrade can be bought from NPCs.
	Safety protocol III	Reduces the probability of an accident involving a Nuclear Power Plant by 40%. This island-wide upgrade can be bought from NPCs.
	Global Trust roadmap III	Reduces the maintenance costs by 20% of each Tycoon energy-producing building. Given that each Nuclear Power Plant costs 100 units in maintenance costs, using this upgrade greatly inproves your currency balance. This island-wide upgrade can be bought from NPCs.
	Maintenance Unit	When activated, this module will reduce the probability of an accident involving a Nuclear Power Plant by 90% for the period of 2 hours. After these 2 hours, the module will have to be replaced by a new one. This module can be researched in a Laboratory, costing 3.000 credits, 10 ton Kerosine and 10 ton Weapons. Using this module in combination with the Safety Protocol III will wipe out any risk of a meltdown.
	Uranium Drill Bit	When activated, this module will restock the available Uranium on your island. This module can be researched in a Laboratory, costing 5.000 credits and 30 ton Tools. It can also be bought from NPCs.

Besides these island-wide upgrades, more useful upgrades could be applied through sector-wide Ark upgrades.

Production chains

In order to build a Powerplant Island, the following production chains can be used:

Energy production, basic:

Name	Uranium Mine	Fuel Element Factory	Nuclear Power Plant
Rate of use	1	1	1

Energy production, most efficient:

Name	Uranium Metal Converter	Fuel Element Factory	Nuclear Power Plant
Rate of use	1	2	2

Heavy Weapons production, basic:

Name	Coal Excavator	Iron Mine	Iron Melter	Uranium Mine	Explosives Factory	Arsenal
Rate of use	2	2	2	2	1	1

Heavy Weapons production, most efficient:

Name	Coal Mine	Iron Metal Converter	Iron Melter	Uranium Metal Converter	Explosives Factory	Arsenal
Rate of use	3	4	6	3	3	3

Mine versus Metal Converter calculator:

2 Uranium Mines @ 100% = 1 Uranium Metal Converter @ 100%
3 Iron Mines @ 100% = 2 Iron Metal Converters @ 100%
2 Coal Excavators @ 100% = 1 Coal Mine @ 100%

Other useful guides

Some may know that I made a bunch of other guides for Anno 2070 as well. Check them out!

Anno in-depth series:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=161079695
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=136264455
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=155377671
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=140841772

Building layouts:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=126330047
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122329921
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=135700037
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122995399
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=133380073
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=130203918

[SamsWrath]

The map I'm running with 1000s of off-shore parks has a total population of almost 115,000. Needless top say, I have a ton of tax revenue. On top of that, I made TONS of items with my laboratories and achademies before I razed them to build more houses. All those items increase dividend revenue on the island where they are stored. One of my islands has almost $100k in dividends. Basically, I can afford the off-shore wind-parks. Also, I have everything so built out that the nuclear island became pointless (I needed the island space for more production since I built out all 3 factions).

[xARCHONx]

So I thought I'd give that powerplant Island with Sam's Ofshore Windaprks a try. A completely surreounded smaal island with full ark slot upgrades leaves me with one space between each wind park, 5635 gross power production using only offshore wind parks. The maintenance on these babies ara staggering 4,700 for 189 of them.

On the other hand, my Nuclear Power island with 9 Reactors, 9 Fuel Element Factories and 9 Uranium Metal Converters only cost me 3240 while netting me a gross 4500 power. If used Fast Breeder upgrades I got a total of 6525 power. I prefer using uranium, saves me a lot of Harbour space.

[xARCHONx]

Thanks for the info SamsWrath, I'd be lost without those dividends. My building maintenance is 82K, imagine what I'd need to trade to maintain that. Thomas075, you are awesome, and SamsWrath, you seem really knowledgable.

[SamsWrath]

xARCHONx, The Tech islands are giving you more dividends because you're making items with your laboratories and academies that are going into your storage. Items have value so the more you have in storage the greater that island's dividends. This is a little known fact about Anno 2070 and can be used as an exploit if you choose.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/48240/discussions/0/828934913049974762/

[Glyphis]

I'm afraid i can't help you with your dividend issues xARCHONx. Tnx for your support towards my Anno 2070 guides

[xARCHONx]

I have a continous game 120+ hours and it's a large map using all of Thomas075's layouts and build. I have one Muclear island, much like this article providing about 2000+ power to each of my 3 factions, of which S.A.A.T has two islands occupied. I slotted 3 fast breeder reactor items and 3 safety protocol III's, never have any issues. The rest if my islands all share geothermic power of another small nuclear island.

Btw, does anyone know why both my genius islands are providing my with +500,000 in dividends when my GT and EE islands only give me a few thousand?

[SamsWrath]

Nice guide but, an energy island is a waste for 3 specific reasons:

1) Energy can only transfer to 4 islands--after 4 transfers any excess energy is wasted.
2) A nuclear power island requires ARK upgrades, warehouse upgrades or a combination of both to prevent nuclear meltdown. There are MANY upgrades that provide bonuses that far outweigh reducing the chance of a nuclear accident.
3) Dedicating an island to nuclear energy means one fewer island for production/population. This isn't an issue if only building one faction but, if building all 3 w/ a LARGE population (100,000+), you'll need every island for production/population.

Using unmodded off-shore wind-parks (on the largest map size) will net you far more electricity than a nuclear island. Off-shore wind-parks have the added bonus of creating a wider range of energy distribution because the energy is spread across 15-20 islands rather than centralized on one.