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Desert Floodplains are a terrain feature in Civilization VI. They are found on flat Desert tiles near Rivers.

In vanilla Civilization VI and Rise and Fall, Floodplains tiles cannot typically be developed by any means other than building Farms as they block the construction of District Districts and wonders (except for the Pyramids, Mont St. Michel, Etemenanki, and Petra), though Egypt uniquely ignores this limitation, and Nubia can construct Nubian Pyramids on Floodplains. Floodplains with bonus, luxury, or strategic resources can be improved as normal.

Floodplains in Gathering Storm[]

Gathering Storm makes a major change towards what exactly a Floodplain is. Namely, they are not an exclusive feature of Desert tiles anymore, but rather a part of the new flooding mechanic. Floodplains can now appear on Plains and Grassland tiles as well, near a River where there are several contiguous tiles of flat land (which aren't part of some other special feature, such as a Volcano's eruption area). They mark the area which will be affected during Flood disasters. What's more, their bonus yield has been removed (with the exception of Desert Floodplains, which still receive a base yield of +2 Food Food), and is now a function of the flooding disaster itself. In practice, Floodplains still have the potential to become some of the most fertile lands in the game, but only after they pass through a couple of floods!

Also, all Floodplains can now support districts, but block placements of all tile improvements, except for Farms and unique improvements that explicitly say they can be built on Floodplains.

Strategy[]

Floodplains redeem deserts for city development, ensuring a major supply of food. Since they usually form continuous belts around a River, Farms placed there will make the best of their adjacency bonuses (once Feudalism and later Replaceable Parts have been developed). The tradeoff is that - with the exception of Egypt due to their Iteru ability - Floodplains are not acceptable tiles on which to place districts (other than the City Center) or wonders (other than those that specifically require Desert tiles, such as Petra and the Pyramids).

Following the release of Gathering Storm, Floodplains of all kinds do not block district and wonder construction. Still, the fact that Floodplains provide plentiful Food Food in the middle of the desert is enough, especially when they happen to have Wheat Wheat or other resources on them! Use them exclusively for farming, and place your districts away from the River.

The effects of Petra do not apply to Floodplains.

Since Floodplains (appropriately) are always lowland, there will never be Hills on a Floodplains tile.

Civilopedia entry[]

Floodplains are low-lying areas adjacent to rivers, and prone to flooding each year (or more often) and hence fertile from soil deposits and some of the most productive farmland known. Perhaps the best known are those along the Nile, which helped ancient Egypt become one of history's greatest civilizations.

Gallery[]

See also[]

Civilization VI Terrains [edit]
Base CoastDesertDesert (Hills)GrasslandGrassland (Hills)HillsLakeMountainsNile River3OceanPlainsPlains (Hills)SnowSnow (Hills)TundraTundra (Hills)
Features Cataract3CliffsFloodplainsDesert FloodplainsGrassland FloodplainsPlains FloodplainsGeothermal Fissure GS-OnlyIceImpact Zone1 2MarshOasisRainforestBurning Rainforest1Burnt Rainforest1Reef R&F-OnlyRiverVolcanic Soil GS-OnlyVolcano GS-OnlyWoodsBurning Woods1Burnt Woods1
Other Barbarian OutpostMeteor Site1Tribal Village
See also ImprovementNatural WonderResource
1 Requires DLC2 Apocalypse mode only • 3 Specific Scenarios only
R&F-Only Added in the Rise and Fall expansion pack.
GS-Only Added in the Gathering Storm expansion pack.
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