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The Military Engineer is a Medieval Era support unit in Civilization VI. It can only be built in a city that has an Encampment with an Armory.

In the Gathering Storm expansion, the Military Engineer's Gold Gold maintenance cost is decreased from 4 to 2.

Strategy[]

Military Engineers are another type of Builder, focused on military and infrastructural improvements. Unlike other support units, Military Engineers are active, not passive, participants in the game. Their use isn't immediately apparent to any but the most skilled commanders, who know the value of a good road leading close to your target, or a well-placed Airstrip far from your cities which your air force can use as a base for attacks. What's more, Military Engineers have both offensive and defensive uses:

  • Building roads through terrain which will slow down your army is now more important than ever. And if it so happens that the Traders haven't happened to pass through this exact location, Military Engineers are your only option.
    • Building roads between your cities with Military Engineers is expensive; it is better to use Traders for this purpose.
    • Military Engineer charges are better used in creating bridges across Rivers, allowing your Builders to traverse your city using less MPs.
    • In Gathering Storm, as soon as you research Steam Power and unlock railroads, Military Engineers lose the ability to build roads and gain the ability to build railroads without using Build charges (Civ6) build charges. Railroads can be built on both existing roads (which replaces them) and wild land at the cost of 1 Iron Iron and 1 Coal Coal per hex.
  • Forts are great defensive structures, especially for a defense-oriented civilization. Of note: if you are playing as Poland, each Fort you construct will also Culture Bomb surrounding tiles. This will steal tiles from rival players and even city-states so long as there is no completed district or wonder currently on the tile.
  • Airstrips become very important when conducting offensive operations away from your main territory, especially on other continents. Captured cities don't offer all the slots for air units that they did in Civilization V, and a quick Airstrip solves the problem of where to house bombers that are a long way from home.

Each Military Engineer gets only two uses before vanishing, so prioritize what you need them to do. If playing as England in Gathering Storm, your Military Engineers get 4 Build charges (Civ6) build charges and you get a 100% Production Production bonus towards them. This allows you to gain up to 80% Production Production for Aqueducts, Canals, Dams, and Flood Barriers.

Like all support units, the Military Engineer will be instantly killed if an enemy military unit enters the tile it occupies.

Civilopedia entry[]

Military engineers – as opposed to “combat” engineers who are crazy enough to rush into battle carrying tools and explosives rather than weapons – are tasked with building fortifications and other structures and creating and maintaining lines of supply and communication. The most victorious armies of the past – Roman, Chinese, Ottoman, British, etc. – all had superior military engineering units, to which much of their success was owed, both for protecting their own troops and knocking down the enemy’s defenses. Just ask the Gauls at Alesia (52 BC) or the Zealots at Jerusalem (70 AD). Following the fall of Rome in the west, military engineering – like just about everything else – entered a “dark age,” not to be revived until the mid-Middle Ages, when once again sieges were prevalent. By the end of the age, military engineers were again an integral part of any victorious army. Throughout the Napoleonic, Crimean, various civil and world wars, military engineers were divided into ever-more specialties. These days, a military professional needs a degree in civil, electrical, mechanical, architectural or even environmental engineering to be given the chance to build things...or tear them down.

See also[]

Civilization VI Units [edit]
Civilian SettlerBuilderTraderArchaeologistSpyNaturalistRock Band GS-Only
Land military AT CrewArcher (Hul'che1Pítati Archer1) • ArtilleryBarbarian Horse ArcherBarbarian HorsemanBombardCatapultCavalry (CossackHuszár GS-OnlyLlanero1) • Courser GS-Only (Black Army GS-OnlyOromo Cavalry1) • Crossbowman (Voi Chiến1) • Crouching TigerCuirassier GS-Only (Rough RiderWinged Hussar1) • Field Cannon (Hwacha R&F-Only) • Giant Death Robot GS-OnlyHeavy ChariotHelicopterHorseman (Hetairoi1) • Infantry (Digger1) • Keshig R&F-OnlyKnight (Mandekalu Cavalry GS-OnlyMamlukTagma1) • Line Infantry (Garde ImpérialeRedcoat) • Machine GunMalón Raider R&F-OnlyMan-At-Arms (Khevsur R&F-OnlyBerserkerSamurai) • Maryannu Chariot ArcherMechanized InfantryModern ATModern ArmorMountie GS-OnlyMusketman (ConquistadorJanissary GS-Only) • Nihang1Pike and Shot (Carolean GS-Only) • Pikeman (Impi R&F-Only) • Questing Knight4Ranger (Highlander R&F-Only) • Rocket ArtillerySabum Kibittum1Saka Horse ArcherScout (Okihtcitaw R&F-Only) • Skirmisher GS-Only (Warak'aq GS-Only) • SlingerSpearman (Hoplite) • Spec Ops R&F-OnlySwordsman (Hypaspist1Immortal1LegionNgao MbebaToa GS-Only) • TankTrebuchet (Domrey1) • Vampire3VaruWar-CartWarrior MonkWarrior (Eagle WarriorGaesatae1) • Zombie5
Naval military Aircraft CarrierBattleship (Minas Geraes) • Caravel (Nau1) • DestroyerFrigate (De Zeven Provinciën R&F-OnlyJong1) • Galley (Bireme GS-OnlyViking Longship) • IroncladMissile CruiserNuclear SubmarinePrivateer (Barbary Corsair GS-OnlySea Dog) • Quadrireme (Dromon1) • Submarine (U-Boat)
Aircraft BiplaneBomberFighter (P-51 Mustang) • Jet BomberJet Fighter
Support Anti-Air GunBattering RamCultist3Drone R&F-OnlyMedicMilitary EngineerMobile SAMObservation BalloonSiege TowerSoothsayer2Supply Convoy R&F-Only
Religious ApostleGuruInquisitorMissionary
See also Great PeopleHeroes
1 Requires DLC2 Apocalypse mode only • 3 Secret Societies mode only • 4 Heroes & Legends mode only • 5 Zombie Defense mode 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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