Gems (Civ2)

Gems are a commodity and a resource type in Civilization II.

Stats

• Food: 1
• Shields: 0
• Trade: 4

Increases the amount of Trade produced in Jungle Terrain from 0 to 4

Civilopedia entry

Gemstones, treasured throughout time for their beauty and value, have always been a sought-after commodity. Most gemstones, such as diamonds, are mined in various areas throughout the world, most notably Africa. Some of the most notable gem deposits, however, have been found in archeological digs. The ruins of ancient civilizations in the jungles of Central and South America have sometimes been found to hide large quantities of precious and semi-precious gems, as well as gold and other items of value. The discovery of such a site can lead to an increase in trade in the areas surrounding the dig, as both professional and amateur treasure hunters swarm to the region to seek their fortune.

Commodity

Main article: Commodity (Civ2)

As a commodity, gems is available to cities near deserts, mountains, swamps, and plains and is especially abundant on continent number 7.

The value of a gem caravan or freight is tripled if it is in demand. A city will demand gems if the remainder of the sum of its map coordinates divided by 3 is 1. Demand increases with city size, the development of chemistry, the erection of banks and cathedrals, and among the Spanish. Demand decreases with the development of economics and computers.

Gems can appear as a supplied or demanded wildcard throughout the game, which can make it more useful as a commodity over the full course of the game than others such as gold.

Resource

Main article: Resource (Civ2)

Gems shine in Jungle terrain to indicate the presence of precious stones, ivory, spices, salt, or other valuable commodities. These are good trade items and, therefore, the square in which they appear generate substantial arrows. —Manual

Gems are a fish-class resource that appears in jungles. It adds four trade arrows to the tile's production value. The visible gem resource does not increase the likelihood of the gem commodity in a nearby city, except insofar as it makes the tile count as four jungles instead of one.

See also

• Gems in other games