List of unit actions in Civ6

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The following is a list of unit actions in Civilization VI and its expansions.

General actions[]

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Automate Exploration		Order the unit to explore uncharted regions of the map. This unit will continue to move every turn until you cancel its automation. Not available if there is a pending promotion.
	Cancel Order		Cancel the last order given to the unit. You may find this to be very useful if you accidentally queue up the wrong order or actions.
	Delete Unit		Permanently delete the active unit and receive a small amount of Gold in return. Unit must be at full HP.
	Move To		Order the current unit to move to the selected tile.
	Name Unit
	Promote Unit		Cannot be removed if no actual promotion available.
	Skip Turn
	Sleep		Order the unit to remain inactive until the player provides it new orders. It will not become active again the next turn and must be manually selected.
	Unit Upgrade		Must have enough Gold in treasury. Must be in friendly territory.
	Wake Up		Wake up the sleeping unit.

Military actions[]

Name	Units	Notes
Alert
Coastal Raid	Naval Raider units	Naval Melee units owned by Harald Hardrada can perform this action.
Condemn Heretic		Must be at war with the owner of the religious unit.
Create Escort Formation		Order 2 different unit types to “link” and move as one (military and civilian, military and support, etc.).
Exit Escort Formation		Break apart an Escort Formation.
Form Army Form Armada		Requires Mobilization (Nationalism when playing as Shaka, Mercantilism for naval units when playing as Spain). Permanently combines one land/naval military unit with a Corps/Fleet of the same type into an Army/Armada, creating a new unit with 17 more Combat Strength and Ranged Strength than a single unit.
Form Corps Form Fleet		Requires Nationalism (Mercenaries when playing as Shaka, Mercantilism for naval units when playing as Spain). Permanently combines two land/naval military units of the same type into a Corps/Fleet, creating a new unit with 10 more Combat Strength and Ranged Strength than a single unit.
Fortify		The unit remains inactive until the player provides it new orders. The unit receives a defensive bonus.
Fortify Until Healed		The unit remains inactive until it heals back to full strength. The unit receives a defensive bonus and heals every turn.
Pillage Road Pillage		Order the unit to destroy the improvement on the current tile. The improvement, road, or building must be repaired before it can be used again.
Plunder Trade Route		Must be at war with Trade Route owner.
Ranged Attack		Perform a ranged attack on the selected tile.
Rest and Repair	Any Naval unit
WMD Strike	Bomber Jet Bomber Nuclear Submarine	Launches a Nuclear Device or Thermonuclear Device at the chosen tile. The target and all surrounding tiles in the blast radius will receive massive damage. The affected tiles will become irradiated, and units will quickly die if not moved out of the area of effect.

Specific actions[]

Name	Units	Notes
Activate Great Person	Great Person	Activating certain Great People activates the Great Person’s special ability which varies depending on the Great Person. This consumes the Great Person after one or more uses.
Add Production	Builder	Add Production to Building, District, Project or Wonder.
Choose Mission	Spy	See Espionage Missions for details.
Counterspy	Spy
Excavate Artifact	Archaeologist
Found City	Settler	Consumes the Settler and creates a city in the current tile.
Jump	Giant Death Robot	Must have Movement remaining. Consumes all remaining Movement and ends turn.
Make Trade Route	Trader
Perform Rock Concert	Rock Band	Tourism Bomb. Must be on a tile owned by a different major civilization. The same tile is not allowed to be played multiple times.
Transfer to Another City	Great Person Spy Trader Hero (Heroes and Legends game mode only)

Terrain actions[]

Name	Units	Notes
Build Improvement Build Improvement Adjacent	Builder Military Engineer Legion Nau Toa	See List of Tile Improvements for details.
Build Road	Military Engineer	See Roads for details.
Clear Contamination	Builder Military Engineer Legion Nau Toa	Nuclear contamination can be “cleaned” from affected tiles by Builder units. Builder units that are able to clean contaminated hexes will take less damage if they end their turn in such a hex.
Designate National Park	Mountie Naturalist	Must be on a valid National Park tile.
Harvest Resource	Builder	See Bonus Resources for details.
Plant Woods	Builder	See Woods for details.
Remove Feature Remove Improvement	Builder Military Engineer Legion Nau Toa
Repair Repair Road	Builder Military Engineer Legion Nau Toa	Repair any damage caused by unit pillaging. The improvement and any resources on this tile cannot be utilized until it is repaired.

Religious actions[]

Name	Units	Notes
Convert Barbarians	Apostle	Requires Heathen Conversion. Great General Boudica also has this ability.
Evangelize Belief	Apostle	Must have a Religion.
Found Religion	Great Prophet	Must found a Pantheon first. Must be on your Holy Site district or Stonehenge wonder.
Launch Inquisition	Apostle	Must have a Religion.
Heal Religious Units	Guru
Remove Heresy	Inquisitor
Spread Religion	Apostle Missionary

Air actions[]

Name	Units	Notes
Air Attack	Any Fighter or Bomber unit
Airlift	Any land unit	Requires Rapid Deployment.
Deploy	Any Fighter unit
Paradrop	Spec Ops	Must be in friendly territory or adjacent to a Airstrip or Aerodrome. Consumes all remaining Movement and ends turn. Cannot be in enemy Zone of Control.
Priority Target	Spec Ops Jet Bomber Jet Fighter	Deals 65 damage to target support unit.
Re-Base	Any Fighter or Bomber unit	Order the air unit to re-base to a different city.

Scenario-specific actions[]

The Black Death[]

The Black Death, a scenario added in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, has some unique unit actions:

Name	Units	Notes
Holy Fervor		Can only be used after moving or taking an action. Can only be used once per turn.
Minister to the Sick	Plague Doctor	Must be used on a plague-stricken tile.
Pacify		Must be used in a city.
Purge Sins	Flagellant	Must be used in a plague-stricken city.
Study Plague	Scholar	Must be used in a plague-stricken city. Cannot be used in a city that has previously been Studied.

Red Death[]

Red Death, a scenario added in the June 2020 Update, introduced some unique unit actions:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Build Improvised Trap		Unique to Doomsday Preppers.
	Burn Treasure Map		Unique to Pirates.
	Defensive Inertial Shielding		Unique to Mad Scientists.
	Road Vision		Unique to Wanderers.
	Sacrifice Unit		Unique to Cultists.
	Sacrifice Unit		Unique to Pirates.^[1]
	Send Grieving Gift		Unique to Borderlords.
	Toggle Radiant Personalities		Unique to Mutants.
	WMD Strike Hail Mary		Unique to Jocks.
	Xenological Camouflage		Unique to Aliens.

Pirates[]

Pirates, a scenario added in the October 2020 Update, introduced some unique unit actions:

Name	Units	Notes
Bring Her Home		Unique to Privateers.
Bury Treasure	Shore Party	Bury 600 Gold to gain 30 Treasure Points.
Capture Boat		Must have an available Crew member.
Careening		Must be on Shallow Water. Must have Movement remaining.
Chain Shot		Unique to Hoarders.
Embark		Used by the game engine in a standard game, but hidden in the unit panel.
Shore Party (Disembark)		Used by the game engine in a standard game, but hidden in the unit panel.
Tack into the Wind		Unique to Swashbucklers.
Visit Tavern		Must be adjacent to a Colonial City Center.
Walk the Plank		Unique to Dread Pirates.

Game mode-specific actions[]

Apocalypse[]

Apocalypse, a game mode introduced in the Maya & Gran Colombia Pack, added the following unit actions:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Cause Disaster	Soothsayer
	Sacrifice Adjacent Unit	Soothsayer

Secret Societies[]

Secret Societies, a game mode introduced in the Ethiopia Pack, added the following unit actions:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Recruit Followers	Cultist
	Teleport	Vampire

Heroes & Legends[]

Heroes & Legends, a game mode introduced in the Babylon Pack, added the following unit actions:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Anansi's Tricks	Anansi
	Arthur's Accolade	Arthur
	Beowulf's Challenge	Beowulf
	Hercules' Labor	Hercules
	Hercules' Rage	Hercules
	Himiko's Charm	Himiko
	Himiko's Rule	Himiko
	Hippolyta's Command	Hippolyta
	Maui's Inventions	Maui
	Oya's Storm	Oya
	Sinbad's Fortunes	Sinbad

Barbarian Clans[]

Barbarian Clans, a game mode introduced in the February 2021 Update, added the following unit actions:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Disperse Clan
	Raid Clan

Zombie Defense[]

Zombie Defense, a game mode introduced in the Portugal Pack, added the following unit actions:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Release Levy	Zombie

Hidden and unused actions[]

Hidden actions[]

These actions are not visible in the UI, but they are used by the game engine.

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Disembark
	Embark
	Salvage Wonder
	Swap Units

Unused actions[]

These actions are unused in the current game version, but they exist in the game data files.

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Automate
	Cancel Order (Stop automation)
	Gift Unit		(Needs verification)
	Move To Unit		(Needs verification)
	Retrain		(Needs verification)
	Route To		(Needs verification)
	Wait For

Easter-egg actions[]

The April 2021 Update introduced the following easter-egg action:

Icon	Name	Units	Notes
	Pet	Scout	The Scout pets its dog. This does not count as one of the unit's actions for the turn and is entirely aesthetic.

References[]

↑ Seems to be unused.