Land unit (Civ7)

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A Land Unit is a type of Unit in Civilization VII and its expansions that has land as its native element. It moves across land tiles and can move onto water tiles only when embarked.

Mechanics[]

Land Units are the most fundamental and commonly constructed units throughout history. They are the first type of units available in the game and dominate the Antiquity Age. They are divided into Melee and Ranged Units.

As Ages progress, Land Units become less dominant as advancements in Technology introduce Naval and Air Units, which can significantly outperform them. However, Land Units remain valuable and necessary throughout the entire game, as they are the only Military Units that can move freely over land. This makes them indispensable for players pursuing military or domination strategies, as they are required to capture Fortified Districts and conquer Settlements.

Land Units can be produced in any City and purchased with Gold in any Settlement. Upon completion, Land Units spawn in the City Center unless a Military Building dictates otherwise. If both the City Center and the designated military Building tile are occupied by another Land Unit, production will be unavailable until space is cleared.

Combat and embarkation[]

Land Units can only engage in combat on land and must embark when entering any marine or navigable river tile. While embarked, their Combat Strength is greatly reduced, making them extremely vulnerable to ranged and naval attacks. However, embarking can be an effective tactic to escape from Melee Units, as those cannot attack embarked Units.

When crossing seas and oceans, Land Units should always be escorted by Naval Units to ensure their safety and prevent enemy forces from easily picking them off.

Fortifications[]

Lastly, Land Units can construct a temporary fortification on their current tile by using the Fortify action. This action can only be used if the unit still has Movement points remaining and will consume all remaining Movement upon activation. Naturally, it cannot be performed while embarked or inside an undamaged Fortified District.

The fortification takes 2 turns to complete and increases the Unit's Combat Strength while defending on that tile. Once built, the structure remains intact until it is abandoned for one full turn. If an enemy unit enters the tile, they cannot claim the fortification and must construct their own if they wish to benefit from defensive bonuses.

Garrisons[]

TBA

Classes[]

Land Units are divided into four classes:

Melee:
- Infantry
- Cavalry
Range:
- Ranged
- Siege

Each class differs significantly in mechanics, cost, strategic purpose, and gameplay. This variety provides players with diverse tools to counter threats, conduct campaigns, and develop dynamic armies suited to different strategies.

Melee[]

Melee Units rely solely on their Combat Strength and must move directly onto an enemy's tile to initiate an attack. Combat occurs upon contact, and the attacker only advances onto the enemy's tile if the opponent is defeated. Melee attacks always provoke a counterattack from the defender, so it's important to leverage terrain and other combat modifiers to minimize losses.

Additionally, Melee Units exert Zone of Control, preventing enemy Units from moving past them without direct engagement. This makes them especially effective at protecting vulnerable allies, blocking choke points, and holding the front line.

Lastly, some Melee Units possess the Amphibious abilities, allowing them to attack from water with full Combat Strength. This grants them a strong tempo advantage over enemies that cannot retaliate the following turn.

Melee Units are further divided into two subclasses:

Infantry[]

Infantry Units are the most basic and cost-efficient Land Units. They are typically the earliest available and play an essential role in capturing enemy Districts or shielding vulnerable allies by holding defensive frontlines.

While they don't particularly excel in any one situation, their versatility and cheap accessibility make them valuable throughout the game. Some Unique Infantry Units, especially when paired with civilization-specific bonuses, can become powerful forces and should not be underestimated.

Cavalry[]

Cavalry Units function similarly to Infantry, but typically have higher Movement and Combat Strength. The biggest difference, and what makes Cavalry exceptional, is that they all possess the Swift ability, which allows them to ignore enemy Zones of Control. This makes them ideal for flanking enemies, swiftly repositioning across the battlefield, and providing critical support during sieges.

They especially excel at picking off Ranged Units, as they can often initiate attacks from outside the enemy's Range and nearly one-shot them due to their high Combat Strength difference.

For all these reasons, Cavalry Units are generally stronger than Infantry but also more expensive, making them a more specialized and situational force.

Range[]

Ranging Units use the Range Attack action to perform attacks from a distance, as they cannot perform melee attacks. Each Unit has a Range stat that determines how far it can strike. Depending on the target, a Ranged Unit will use either its Ranged Strength or Bombard Strength:

Ranged Strength – Used when attacking any Land Unit, including embarked ones.
Bombard Strength – Used when attacking Fortified Districts or any Naval Unit.

Ranged attacks cannot be retaliated against, making these units excellent for safely picking off enemies from a distance. However, when attacked by Melee Units, they do retaliate — but with their base Combat Strength, which is usually very low. This makes them highly vulnerable when left exposed or unprotected.

Ranging Units are further divided into two subclasses:

Ranged[]

Ranged Units are the standard ranged class for land combat. They become available early and are relatively cheap to produce.

As mentioned before, they are heavily countered by fast-moving Melee Units, such as Cavalry or Unique Infantry with high Combat Strength and Movement. Because such counters are rare in the early game, Ranged Units tend to dominate the Antiquity Age, where few threats can close the gap fast enough to stop them.

Siege[]

Siege Units function similarly to Ranged Units but feature significantly higher Bombard Strength. They excel at attacking Fortified Districts and Naval Units, since Bombard Strength is always used in those scenarios. Additionally, they possess the Siege ability, which allows them to damage Units stationed inside Fortified tiles.

List of land units[]

Standard units[]

	Infantry	Cavalry	Ranged	Siege
Antiquity Age	Warrior Spearman Phalanx	Chariot Horseman	Slinger Archer	Ballista
Exploration Age	Swordsman Man-At-Arms Pikeman	Courser Knight Lancer	Heavy Archer Crossbowman Arquebusier	Catapult Trebuchet Bombard
Modern Age	Line Infantry Rifle Infantry Infantry Company	Cuirassier Landship Tank	Field Cannon Field Gun AT Gun	Mortar Howitzer Assault Gun

Unique units[]

	Infantry	Cavalry	Ranged	Siege
Antiquity Age	Foederati Hoplite (Greek) Medjay (Egyptian) Legion (Roman) Immortal (Achaemenid Persian)	Yuthahathi (Khmer) Purabhettarah (Mauryan) Numidian Cavalry (Carthaginian)	Burning Arrow (Mississippian) Chu-Ko-Nu (Han) Hul'che (Maya)
Exploration Age	Gold Bangles Infantry (Songhai) Kispoko Nena'to (Shawnee) Leiomano (Hawai'i) Tercio (Spanish) Xunleichong (Ming)	Chevaler (Norman) Mamluk (Abbasid) Bolyar (Bulgarian)
Modern Age	Abambowa (Bugandan) Garde Impériale (French Imperial) Gurkha (Nepalese) Gusa (Qing) Sepoy (Mughal) Soldaderas (Mexican) Partisan Marine (American)	Cossack (Russian) Hussar (Prussian)	Chang Beun (Siamese)	Katyusha Rocket Launcher (Russian)