Movement (Civ4)

In Civilization IV, much of your time is spent moving your Units around on the map - you send them out to Explore new territory; you march them off to battle; and so forth. The basic rules of movement are simple; each unit in the game has a certain number of "movement points" (MPs) which they can expend each turn. Units spend MPs entering a new square; some terrain is more difficult to move through (and thus costs more MPs to enter), some less so, and some is impassable. Certain Improvements cut down the cost of entering certain spaces.

There are three basic unit types in the game: land, sea, and air units.

Land Movement[]

Land units may move only onto land Terrain. They may not move onto water (unless carried aboard a sea transport unit). Further, land units may not enter Peak spaces.

Movement Speed - Generally, foot soldiers have 1 MP, while horses and powered units have 2 MPs or more. Workers and settlers have 2 MPs. See Units for details.
Terrain Costs - Open terrain - grassland, plains, desert, tundra and ice - cost 1 MP to enter. Hills, jungle, and forests cost 2 MP.

Note: A unit can always enter a space if it has any MPs left. Thus, a 1 MP unit could enter a forest space, but its move would end there. (See Terrain for details.)

Roads and Railroads - Roads negate the movement costs of terrain; all spaces cost 1/2 MP to enter. (When you acquire the Engineering technology, the cost goes down to 1/3 MP.) This benefit occurs only when a unit is moving from one road square to another, and only when the square the unit is entering is not within a hostile civ's borders. Railroads are similar to roads, except that railroad squares cost 1/10 MP to enter from other railroad squares.
Rivers - Rivers negate the effects of roads until you get the Construction technology; in other words, moving across a river will act the same as if a road is not there at all.
Cities - All city spaces are considered to have roads in them. When you have acquired the ability to build railroads, city spaces will have railroads as well.

Water Movement[]

Water units can enter only ocean, coastal, and coastal city squares. They cannot move onto land spaces. Water units cannot enter ice spaces.

Sea Unit Type Limitations - Early water units - galleys and work boats - cannot enter ocean squares unless those squares are within your cultural borders (or another civilization's cultural borders if you have an "Open Borders" agreement). Otherwise they are limited to coastal and city spaces.
Movement Speed - Early water units have 2 MPs; the fastest and most modern water units have as many as 8 MPs. The first civilization to circumnavigate the globe will also receive a +1 MP bonus to all of its water units.
Terrain Costs - All coastal/ocean spaces cost 1 MP to enter. Ice spaces are impassable.

Air Units[]

In general, air units can enter both land and water spaces, including impassable ice and peak spaces. All spaces cost 1 MP for air units to enter. See Air Units for more details.

Promotions[]

Certain Promotions allow units to move faster through certain terrain types or grant them extra MPs altogether. For example, the Mobility promotion allows mounted and armored units to move faster through rough terrain and the Navigation promotions grant water units extra MPs.

Effects of Borders on Movement[]

Your units can move freely within your territory and unclaimed territory, as well as through territory of civilizations with whom you have an Open Borders treaty. If you enter territory of a civilization without such a treaty, you declare war on that civ. You do not get the benefits of roads or rails when moving into enemy territory.

Effects of Other Units on Movement[]

Other friendly or neutral units do not affect your units' movement at all; in other words, your units can move onto the same space as a foreign unit without attacking it. However, if your unit enters a space containing an enemy unit, your unit will initiate Combat with the enemy.

Controlling Your Units[]

You can use your mouse or keyboard to move your units. See the game controls section of the manual to learn how to "activate" units and tell them where you want them to go.