The Steam-Pumped Gold Mine is a type of gold resource building in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
Deep mines flood, and the water must be pumped clear if profits are to be made. Deeper down, there are riches to be found.
A steam beam engine, linked to a pump, can lift enough water in a short time to keep a mine open, and make it sensible to dig deep shafts. Older workings can be kept going even after shallow gold deposits have been plundered. Who is to say how much more money can be made, deep beneath the ground? A steam-pumped gold mine makes an impressive contribution to the mining wealth of its region, and improves the town wealth too. However, even by the standards of the time, conditions for the workers are unpleasant and this makes the lower classes unhappy.
By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, beam engines were over 80 years old, and the engineering behind them was well understood. Cornishman Thomas Newcomen's original "atmospheric" engine, first used in tin mines, had been made obsolete by newer condensing steam engines. Designs pioneered by James Watt, efficient as they were, did not always persuade mine owners to spend money on replacing old machinery when it was still profitable!
General Information[]
Steam-pumped gold mines double the region wealth and town wealth growth per turn that gold mines produce, but cost three times as much as gold mines. In addition, they also add a small amount of town wealth growth to all regions controlled by their faction. This can be tremendously powerful for large factions.