Biosphère (Civ6)

Biosphère
World wonder of the Atomic Era
Introduced in Byzantium & Gaul Pack
Unlocked by	Synthetic Materials
Production cost	1740
Effects
When completed receive 100 Science for every Marsh, Rainforest, and Woods in this city. +1 Appeal to tiles adjacent to Rainforest and Marsh in your empire. +200% Power for all Offshore Wind Farms, Solar Farms, Wind Farms, Geothermal Plants, and Hydroelectric Dams. This building and these improvements provide Tourism equal to their Power. +1 Appeal to tiles adjacent to Rainforest and Marsh in your empire.

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 "Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."
– Henry David Thoreau

The Biosphère is a Atomic Era Wonder in Civilization VI. It must be built along a River adjacent to a Neighborhood.

Vanilla and Rise and Fall

• Effects:
  • When completed receive 100 Science for every Marsh, Rainforest, and Woods in this city.
  • +1 Appeal to tiles adjacent to Rainforest and Marsh in your empire.

Gathering Storm

• Effects:
  • +200% Power for all Offshore Wind Farms, Solar Farms, Wind Farms, Geothermal Plants, and Hydroelectric Dams. This building and these improvements provide Tourism equal to their Power.
  • +1 Appeal to tiles adjacent to Rainforest and Marsh in your empire.

Strategy

The only mainstay bonus of the Biosphère among different game versions is the Appeal bonus to Rainforest and Marsh tiles. This effect is marginal, as it simply neutralizes the Appeal penalty that Marsh and Rainforest tiles have. If you are playing to maximize Appeal, you are still better off removing Rainforests and Marshes and planting second-growth Woods (which provide an inherent +1 Appeal to surrounding tiles) after discovering Conservation. The only civilization that will truly benefit from this aspect is Brazil, as their Rainforests will now supply +2 Appeal to adjacent tiles.

In vanilla Civilization VI and Rise and Fall, the Biosphère grants 100 Science for every Woods, Rainforest, and Marsh tile in the city upon completion, which is, frankly, a pathetic bonus. This wonder is unlocked with Synthetic Materials, one of the last technologies of the game's penultimate era, and requires its host city to own at least 19 tiles covered with Rainforest, Marsh, or Woods (or 23 tiles under the Rise and Fall ruleset) if you want one free Information Era technology, which is unrealistic. The Production cost and requirement for the wonder to be adjacent to a Neighborhood mean that you will most likely have to build it in one of your core cities, which tend to be packed with Districts and wonders at this stage of the game, and clearing features is common practice on high difficulty levels and in multiplayer games. If you decide to invest Production in the Biosphère, all of these factors make it incredibly difficult to build it in a city where its Science bonus will pay off.

In Gathering Storm, the Biosphère becomes an incredible wonder for players who are pursuing a Cultural Victory. It triples the amount of Power provided by all renewable sources, which means each Wind Farm, Offshore Wind Farm, and Solar Farm provides 6 Power, each Geothermal Plant provides 12 Power, and each Hydroelectric Dam provides a whopping 18 Power. Furthermore, all of these improvements and buildings generate Tourism based on their Power supply - for the sake of comparison, a Hydroelectric Dam provides more Tourism than a National Park with four Breathtaking tiles, and with the exception of the Geothermal Plant, all other types of Power improvements have really easy placement rules. The huge amount of Power also results in your empire no longer having to rely on "dirty" sources of Power. This makes the Biosphère suitable for players pursuing a Science Victory (since they'll be able to build and maintain more Terrestrial Laser Stations) or a Diplomatic Victory (since they won't have to choose between high yields and a bit of extra Diplomatic Favor).

Strangely, the Biosphère also provides extra Power and appropriate Tourism for all Harbor buildings if you are the Suzerain of Cardiff. All Harbor buildings will then provide 6 Power instead of 2, for a total of 18 Power for every fully developed Harbor. City Centers also get the additional Power and Tourism with Synthetic Technocracy and Aerospace Contractors, making it much easier to build Terrestrial Laser Stations.

Civilopedia entry

When the Apollo 11 astronauts took a photograph of the Earth from the Moon in 1969, the image of a small blue dot brought home the idea that the world was small, and shared. The water, atmosphere, and ecology of the Earth was a heritage – and responsibility – that every human shared. Two years before, at the Expo 1967 world’s fair in the Canadian city of Montréal, the US pavilion was constructed in a gigantic sphere, which similarly tried to capture and symbolize this unique and fragile state. The Biosphère, built by architect Buckminster Fuller, dominates the skyline of that city. It is a museum dedicated to the Earth and all of its fragility, its beauty, and the threats to its air, water, biodiversity and climate. The term “biosphere” itself, the inspiration for the structure, was coined by geologist Eduard Suess to refer to this notion of life and its interconnectivity. Today, scientists have built upon his ideas to refer to the “Anthropocene,” this current moment in geologic time where our impact upon this planet is inescapable, when human activity profoundly alters the way that the biosphere works. So maybe you should consider drinking that coffee that’s sitting right there next to your monitor out of a reusable cup.

Trivia

• There are three unused quotes for this wonder in the game files:
  •  "We can never have enough of nature."
    – Henry David Thoreau
  •  "Summer grass is all that remains of warriors' dreams."
    – Matsuo Bashō
  •  "Thou saw the fields lay bare an' wast, an' weary Winter comin fast, an' cozie here, beneath the blast, thou thought to dwell."
    – Robert Burns

Gallery

The Biosphère completed

The Biosphère, as seen in-game

See also

• Biosphère in other games