Château (Civ6)

Château
Introduced in Civilization VI
Unique to	French
Built by	Builder
Unlocked by	Humanism
Plunder	Faith
Effects
+2 Culture +1 Gold +1 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Culture for each adjacent wonder, increasing to +2 Culture (with Flight) +2 Gold if built on a River. Provides Tourism equal to its Culture output (Req. Flight)
Improves
Terrain	Desert Floodplains  Plains Floodplains  Grassland Floodplains  Desert  Desert (Hills)  Plains  Plains (Hills)  Grassland  Grassland (Hills)  Tundra  Tundra (Hills)  Snow  Snow (Hills)

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The Château is a unique tile improvement of the French civilization in Civilization VI. It must be built adjacent to a Bonus or a Luxury Resource.

• Effects:
  • +2 Culture
  • +1 Gold
  • +1 Appeal to adjacent tiles
  • +1 Culture for each adjacent wonder, increasing to +2 Culture per wonder (with Flight)
  • +2 Gold if built on a River
  • Provides Tourism equal to its Culture output (with Flight)
  • +2 Culture to all nearby improved luxury resources (Magnificence Catherine only)
• Restrictions:
  • Cannot be adjacent to another Château.

Strategy

The Château has improved greatly since the April 2021 Update but still manages to be somewhat underwhelming as a unique improvement. It is stuck in a spot similar to other improvements with lax restrictions: it can be built almost anywhere, but going overboard with it can stunt the city's growth and productivity, as it provides no Housing, Food, or Production. The arrival of this improvement complicates the matter even further, since it is unlocked around the same time France needs to focus on Production to make use of their civilization ability.

The Château functions similarly to the Sphinx: both provide Culture, Tourism, and Appeal bonuses, can be built on most terrain (including Floodplains), can't be built adjacent to an identical improvement, and get bonuses from adjacent wonders. The Château, however, is unlocked later than the Sphinx, provides 1 less Appeal in Gathering Storm, provides Gold rather than Faith, and has resource-adjacency restriction, but has multiple wonder-adjacency bonus like a Theater Square and provides more Culture and Tourism, which works better towards a Cultural Victory. Magnificence Catherine is a little better at using this improvement since all her improved luxury resources next to a Château will receive 2 Culture; however, the catch here is that Magnificence Catherine's expensive unique project makes her even more Production-hungry than Black Queen Catherine or Eleanor, so she has even more things to consider when deciding if it is wise to fill all empty tiles with Châteaux.

Later in the game when Production is easy to come by (and especially after unlocking Flight), the Château is worth building on any tile with both a resource and either a wonder or River. However, it isn't strong enough to win a game on its own - you will need to focus on France's other bonuses for that.

Civilopedia entry

If one must ask, one cannot afford it. A château is a manor house or country home of landed gentry, usually without fortifications. In the Middle Ages, a château was largely self-sufficient, being supported by the lord's demesne (hereditary lands). In the 1600s, the wealthy and aristocratic French lords dotted the countryside with elegant, luxuriant, architecturally refined mansions such as the Château de Maisons. But many of these stately homes were burned during peasant revolts and populist revolutions. But a few remain as tourist attractions. Today, the term château is loosely used; for instance, it is common for any winery or inn, no matter how humble, to prefix its name with "Château."

Gallery

Château in game

Historic Moment for building the Château

Related achievements

Loire Valley Create 5 Châteaux in one city with the Wine resource. The Loire Valley in France is famous for its Châteaux and its vineyards.

See also

• Château in other games