Drought (Civ6)

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Drought icon

A Drought is a type of disaster in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. It affects Plains and Grassland terrain and it is the longest lasting disaster in the game. At the same time its sheer destructive power is far smaller than other disasters.

• Effects:
  • Damages all food-related improvements in its AOE (Farms, Pastures, Plantations, Camps, Outback Stations, Mekewaps, Terrace Farms, Cahokia Mounds, Haciendas). Extreme Droughts also have a 30% chance to remove these altogether.
  • Damaged improvements cannot be Repaired while the Drought lasts; new food-related improvements cannot be constructed in the affected area.
  • Reduces the Food potential of affected tiles by 1 for the duration of the Drought.
  • The presence of vegetation (Woods, Rainforest, Marsh) can prevent Drought occurrence altogether; otherwise tiles with such features which happen to be in the Drought area will be unaffected by Food loss.
  • Having an Aqueduct, Bath or a Dam in the nearby city will protect all city tiles from Food loss. Stepwell improvement also prevents Food loss.

There are two different levels of Droughts: Major and Extreme (a.k.a. 'Withering'). The first one lasts for 5 turns, the second one for 10 turns.

Note that after the Antarctic Late Summer Update Droughts gain an additional destructive effect past Climate Change Phase V, called desertification. This effect consists of removing tile yields gained earlier in the game from other disasters! The chance of this occurring is 15% for Phase V Climate change, plus an additional 15% for each successive phase. This makes them potentially even more destructive at this latest stage of the game.

In-game disaster descriptions

Type	Severity	Description
Drought	Major	Locusts whirr and dust stirs in the hot wind. The land is parched by drought.
	Withering	A merciless sun beats down on the drought-stricken and withered earth. No rain has fallen, and the skies promise no relief.

Gallery

Major drought

Withering drought