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Desert is a biome in Civilization VII.
Strategy[]
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Civilopedia entry[]
If water is the source of life, the desert is death; its name in English stems from “abandoned,” or “deserted.” Without water, vegetation is sparse, and without vegetation, soil is rare (soil being the accumulation of decomposing plant matter). Desert plants, as few of them as there are, learn many tricks to survive – tumbleweeds make do without soil, moving across the landscape. Cacti thrive where they can, but have long since shed their leaves for spines as adaptations to protect against water loss. Animals also adapt to survive – camels store water in their fatty humps while certain species of insects and seemingly water-dependent animals such as toads and shrimp live their lives in brief bursts during infrequent rains. Humans have had a long relationship with the desert, with groups such as the Bedouin perfecting the art of moving from shelter to shelter, treating the open desert as sailors do the sea.
The Sahara is the largest desert in the world, but it is not the driest. Surprisingly, Antarctica contains some of the driest places on Earth, where rain is never known to have fallen, and even microscopic life fails to live in the permafrost. The Atacama desert in Chile (not the Sahara) is the driest place outside of the poles, acquiring all its moisture by morning fog.
Sagebrush steppe
Certain areas in the desert hold more than nothingness and sand. In areas where some moisture is present – even foggy or dewy – plants bloom. This includes shrubs such as sagebrush (in the Intermountain West) or acacia (in the African Sahel). It is a small step from this “sagebrush steppe” to the “plains”, but this transition is perfectly exemplified in the move from the Sahel to the geographic region known as the Sudan (not to be confused with the country by the name of Sudan).
Oasis
Deserts are defined by their lack of water, but what if water were present, in quantities small enough that it did not constitute a wholesale change of biome? This is an oasis, a tiny point where water from an underground aquifer or underground river emerges into the desert, creating pockets of life. These spaces become the heart of desert civilization. Oasis (and riparian, and coastal) life often existed in tandem with that of the high desert – one can imagine the mutual relationship between the roving Bedouin and the settled Arabs in the Middle East.
Gallery[]
.png "Desert in-game (Civ7).png (1.89 MB)")
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