Game Info[]
Base terrain found in the central parts of the world.
- Base yield - none
- +1
Faith yield with Desert Folklore Religious belief - +1 Food and +1 Production with Petra (Tile must be within the cultural borders of the city that built the wonder.)
Strategy[]
Deserts are normally forbidding places where you should avoid settling, but they present certain unique opportunities. All of the following can only be built in a desert tile, or in a city founded in or adjacent to one:
- Solar Plant
- Petra
- Kasbah (Morocco only)
Farms can be built on desert tiles, and hills in deserts still provide a yield of 2 
Production. Combined with the effect of the Petra, this yields a whopping +3 Production and +1 
Food, creating one of the most potent terrains in the game.
Additionally, the flood plains terrain and the oasis terrain feature are only found next to or on desert tiles (respectively). Oil and Incense resources are also found frequently in deserts. Again, the Petra helps a lot with the yield on these resources (except on flood plains)!
Certain civilizations, like Arabia and Morocco, are "native" to deserts and gain unique benefits from this terrain.
Civilopedia entry[]
In general, desert hexes are remarkably unuseful. They provide no benefits to cities (unless the desert contains an oasis or resource, of course, or if it has access to fresh water).
