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A resource is a special commodity which typically gives bonus production to its tile, and also gives bonuses to all cities which have access to it. A resource on the map is called a tile resource if the context is unclear. A resource that a civilization has access to is just called a "resource"; unfortunately, there is no widely used term to disambiguate this usage from "tile resource." For the purposes of the wiki, we refer to tradeable resources as trade resources.

Seeing Resources[]

Tile resources are shown on the main map using their own graphics. You can also turn on resource bubbles to more clearly locate them. Some tile resources will not be revealed on the map until particular technologies are known; for example, Horses Horse (Civ4) are not revealed until a civilization knows the Animal Husbandry tech.

The trade resources that each particular City has access to are shown on the upper right portion of the city screen in iconic form, along with the effect that the resource has in that city. Strategic resources have no direct effect; some of them allow the building of particular military units, while others offer a production bonus to the construction of some buildings or wonders. Luxury and food resources will give one or two points of happiness or health.

Accessing Resources[]

There are several means to gain access to a trade resource. These are reviewed in this section.

Via Tile Development[]

The fundamental way one gets most trade resources is to "enable" the resource with an appropriate technology, and then to "unlock" a tile resource by building its particular tile improvement on it. (Alternatively, one may unlock any land-based resource either by building a Fort on it, or by settling a City directly on top of it; however, since they give no improvement bonus to the tile, it is typically preferable to build the proper tile improvement.) The tile improvement which unlocks each particular resource is listed in the tables below. For example, Wheat Wheat (Civ4) is unlocked by a Farm.

For the most part, the enabling technology is the technology which allows the building of the resource's particular tile improvement. For example, Gems Gems (Civ4) are enabled by Mining, which is the technology which allows the building of the Mine; prior to the discovery of Mining, a City settled atop Gems will not have the Gems' +1 Happiness (Civ4) bonus, nor will Gems be made available for trade. The sole exception is Uranium Uranium (Civ4) which, despite being associated with the Mine improvement which is allowed with Mining, is only enabled by Fission.

In summary, to gain access to the trade resource in a city, all of the following conditions must hold:

  • The resource must be revealed by the revealing technology.
  • The civilization controlling the tile must have the technology to enable that resource.
  • The tile must have the right tile improvement (or a Fort, or a City) to unlock the resource.
  • The tile must have trade access to the city.

Unless directly settled upon by a City, to get trade access to a tile resource, its tile must be connected by road or river to a nearby city. When you build a road to a resource tile which you've improved, this is called hooking up that resource. To allow trade with an encountered foreign civilization, the network of roads and rivers must connect all of: 1. the tile resource, 2. your Capital city, and 3. the foreign civilization's Capital city.

Via Wonders[]

There are three late-game trade resources - Hit Movies (Hit Movies (Civ4)), Hit Singles (Hit Singles (Civ4)), and Hit Musicals (Hit Musicals (Civ4)) - which are created via building particular wonders. When a civilization owns such a wonder, it obtains a certain number of the associated hits into its trade network. (The particular number of resources varies with the map size—more resources for larger maps.) Hits cause happiness in any civ and may be traded just as any other trade resource.

Via Trade[]

Trade resources can also be gained by trading between civilizations. With trade access, one civ can make a deal with another to supply a trade resource, in return getting gold Coins (Civ4) or some other trade resource.

Via a Corporation[]

There are two trade resources, Oil Oil (Civ4) and Aluminum Aluminum (Civ4), which can alternatively be accessed in a city by having a corporate branch there. Oil is available in all cities with Standard Ethanol Standard Ethanol (Civ4). Aluminum is available in all cities with Aluminum Co. Aluminum Co. (Civ4).

Tables of Resources by Type[]

There are three main subtypes of resources: strategic resources, luxury resources, and food resources. These are described below, with a listing of the resources of each type.

Strategic Resources[]

With the exception of Uranium Uranium (Civ4), all strategic resources give +1 Hammer (Civ4) Production tile bonus on their tile regardless of what tile improvement it may have, so long as the resource has been revealed. All except Uranium Uranium (Civ4) give additional hammers Hammer (Civ4) when unlocked by the proper tile improvement.

Most strategic resources allow the building of certain military units, for example, a city must have access to Horses to build mounted units, Iron for Swordsmen, or Uranium for the ICBM. Most of them also give a +100% production bonus to certain buildings. Marble and Stone are exceptional in that they do not permit any military unit, and one or the other of them gives +100% Hammer (Civ4) to the building of most wonders.

Resource,
Tile bonus
Improvement
(Requires)
Improvement base yield Improvement bonus yield Revealed by Note
Aluminum (Civ4) Aluminum,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
+1 Hammer (Civ4), +1 Coin (Civ4) Industrialism
Industrialism
Also provided by Aluminum Co. (Civ4)
Coal (Civ4) Coal,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
+1 Hammer (Civ4) Steam Power
Steam Power
Allows building of railroads
Copper (Civ4) Copper,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
+1 Hammer (Civ4) Bronze Working
Bronze Working
Horse (Civ4) Horse,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Pasture
(Animal Husbandry)
none +2 Hammer (Civ4), +1 Coin (Civ4) Animal Husbandry
Animal Husbandry
+1 Happiness (Civ4) with Hippodrome (Byzantium only)
Iron (Civ4) Iron,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
+1 Hammer (Civ4) Iron Working
Iron Working
Marble (Civ4) Marble,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Quarry
(Masonry)
+1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad +1 Hammer (Civ4), +2 Coin (Civ4) always revealed
Oil (Civ4) Oil,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Well
(Combustion)
or
Offshore Platform
(Plastics)
none +2 Hammer (Civ4), +1 Coin (Civ4) Scientific Method
Scientific Method
• Allows building of railroads
• Also provided by Standard Ethanol (Civ4)
Stone (Civ4) Stone,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Quarry
(Masonry)
+1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad +2 Hammer (Civ4) always revealed
Uranium (Civ4) Uranium Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
+3 Coin (Civ4) Physics
Physics
• Enabled by Fission
• No tile bonus

Luxury Resources[]

Most tile-based luxury resources give +1 Coin (Civ4) Commerce tile bonus on their tile regardless of what tile improvement it may have. The three exceptions are Ivory Ivory (Civ4), which has a tile bonus of +1 Hammer (Civ4) Production, and Sugar Sugar (Civ4) and Whale Whale (Civ4), which both have a tile bonus of +1 Bread (Civ4) Food.

All tile-based luxury resources give additional Coin (Civ4) Commerce when unlocked by the proper tile improvement. Note that Gems Gems (Civ4), Gold Gold (resource) (Civ4), and Silver Silver (Civ4) have a -1 Hammer (Civ4) improvement bonus yield, which decreases the Mine's Production from +2 Hammer (Civ4) (without a railroad) to +1 Hammer (Civ4).

All luxury resources give +1 Happiness (Civ4) Happiness to cities that have access to them. Many give an additional +1 Happiness (Civ4) Happiness with an appropriate building, whereas others give +1 Health (Civ4) Health.

Resource,
Tile bonus
Improvement
(Requires)
Improvement base yield Improvement bonus yield Effects Note
Dye Dye,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Plantation
(Calendar)
none +4 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Theatre
Fur Fur,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Camp
(Hunting)
none +3 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Market
Obsoleted by Plastics
Gems (Civ4) Gems,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
-1 Hammer (Civ4), +5 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Forge
Gold (resource) (Civ4) Gold,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
-1 Hammer (Civ4), +6 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Forge
Incense (Civ4) Incense,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Plantation
(Calendar)
none +5 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Cathedral
Ivory (Civ4) Ivory,
+1 Hammer (Civ4)
Camp
(Hunting)
none +1 Hammer (Civ4), +1 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Market
Obsoleted by Industrialism
Silk (Civ4) Silk,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Plantation
(Calendar)
none +3 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Market
Silver (Civ4) Silver,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Mine
(Mining)
• +2 Hammer (Civ4)
• +1 Hammer (Civ4) with a railroad
-1 Hammer (Civ4), +4 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Forge
Spices (Civ4) Spices,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Plantation
(Calendar)
none +1 Bread (Civ4), +2 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Grocer
Sugar (Civ4) Sugar,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Plantation
(Calendar)
none +1 Bread (Civ4), +1 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Grocer
Whale (Civ4) Whale,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Whaling Boats
(Optics)
none +1 Hammer (Civ4), +2 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Market
Obsoleted by Combustion
Wine (Civ4) Wine,
+1 Coin (Civ4)
Winery
(Monarchy)
none +1 Bread (Civ4), +2 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Happiness (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Grocer

The three "Hit" luxury resources are exceptional in that they are not located on tiles. Instead, a monopoly is granted to whomever controls the resource's late-game wonder, either by building the wonder or by capturing it from another civilization.

"Hit" resource Wonder
(Requires)
Effects Effects
(Building bonus)
Effects
(Unique building bonus)
Hit Movies (Civ4) Hit Movies Hollywood
(Mass Media)
+1 Happiness (Civ4) +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Broadcast Tower +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Mall (America only)
Hit Musicals (Civ4) Hit Musicals Broadway
(Electricity)
+1 Happiness (Civ4) +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Broadcast Tower +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Mall (America only)
Hit Singles (Civ4) Hit Singles Rock 'n' Roll
(Radio)
+1 Happiness (Civ4) +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Broadcast Tower • +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Odeon (Greece only)
• +1 Happiness (Civ4) with Mall (America only)

Food Resources[]

All food resources give +1 Bread (Civ4) Food tile bonus on their tile regardless of what tile improvement it may have. All of them give additional food when unlocked by the proper tile improvement.

All food resources give +1 Health (Civ4) Health to cities that have access to them, and an additional +1 Health (Civ4) Health with an appropriate building.

Resource,
Tile bonus
Improvement
(Requires)
Improvement base yield Improvement bonus yield Effects
Banana Banana,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Plantation
(Calendar)
none +2 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Grocer
Clam (Civ4) Clam,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Fishing Boats
(Fishing)
none +2 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Harbor
Corn (Civ4) Corn,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Farm
(Agriculture)
• +1 Bread (Civ4) with irrigation
• +1 Bread (Civ4) with Biology
+2 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Granary
Cow (Civ4) Cow,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Pasture
(Animal Husbandry)
none +1 Bread (Civ4), +2 Hammer (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Supermarket
Crab (Civ4) Crab,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Fishing Boats
(Fishing)
none +2 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Harbor
Deer (Civ4) Deer,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Camp
(Hunting)
none +2 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Supermarket
Fish (Civ4) Fish,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Fishing Boats
(Fishing)
none +3 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Harbor
Pig (Civ4) Pig,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Pasture
(Animal Husbandry)
none +3 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Supermarket
Rice (Civ4) Rice,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Farm
(Agriculture)
• +1 Bread (Civ4) with irrigation
• +1 Bread (Civ4) with Biology
+1 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Granary
Sheep (Civ4) Sheep,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Pasture
(Animal Husbandry)
none +2 Bread (Civ4), +1 Coin (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Supermarket
Wheat (Civ4) Wheat,
+1 Bread (Civ4)
Farm
(Agriculture)
• +1 Bread (Civ4) with irrigation
• +1 Bread (Civ4) with Biology
+2 Bread (Civ4) • +1 Health (Civ4)
• +1 Health (Civ4) with Granary

Calculating Tile Yields[]

By using the above tables, along with the yield data from Terrain, the tile yields of any given tile can be calculated. Below are some examples of how such yields are derived.

Example 1[]

Resource (Civ4) tile yield example1

In this first example, a riverside Plains-Hill Windmill on top of Coal has a total yield of:

1 Bread (Civ4), 5 Hammer (Civ4), 2 Coin (Civ4)

The adjacent city contains a Levee. The Windmill is only partly upgraded: the technology Replaceable Parts has been discovered, the technology Electricity has not been discovered, and the Environmentalism civic is not being run. The leader is not Financial.

Using the above tables, we see that Coal is unlocked by either a Mine (or a Fort, or a City) and only a Mine can allow Coal's improvement bonus yield of +1 Hammer (Civ4). As a Windmill is being used instead, no improvement bonus yield is awarded. Additionally, even if the tile were connected to the civilization's capital by a road, the use of a Windmill means that the tile does not make available any Coal resource, neither for domestic use nor for foreign trade. Nonetheless, the tile may still be valuable to the adjacent city working it, due to the relatively high yield.

Category of Contribution Yield Contribution Bread (Civ4) Hammer (Civ4) Coin (Civ4)
Terrain Plains +1 +1 0
" Hill -1 +1 0
" No Terrain feature 0 0 0
" Adjacent river 0 0 +1
Resource Coal Coal (Civ4) tile bonus 0 +1 0
Improvement Windmill base yield +1 0 +1
" Replaceable Parts 0 +1 0
" No Electricity 0 0 0
" No Environmentalism 0 0 0
Improvement Bonus

from Resource

No Mine Bonus

from Coal Coal (Civ4)

0 0 0
Buildings River tile with Levee 0 +1 0
Total Yield on Tile ................................. 1 5 2

Example 2[]

Resource (Civ4) tile yield example2

In this example, a non-Financial leader has a Grassland-Flatland Mine on top of Gems, with no railroad, has a total yield of:

2 Bread (Civ4), 1 Hammer (Civ4), 6 Coin (Civ4)

Using the above tables, we see that Gems are unlocked by either a Mine (or a Fort, or a City) with only a Mine allowing for the Gems' improvement bonus yield of +1 Hammer (Civ4). Because a Mine is present, an improvement bonus of -1 Hammer (Civ4) +5 Coin (Civ4) is awarded, which dramatically increases the tile's Coin (Civ4) Commerce yield at the expense of a slight reduction of the Hammer (Civ4) Production yield which Mines usually provide. Because the enabling Mining technology has been discovered, the unlocking Mine improvement is present, and the tile is connected to the civilization's capital city by road network, the Gems resource is made available to the civilization for domestic use or trade. If not traded away, the Gems provide +1 Happiness (Civ4) to all connected cities and an additional +1 Happiness (Civ4) to those with a Forge, with additional bonuses available to connected cities with Civilized Jewelers Inc. Civilized Jewelers Inc. (Civ4).

Category of contribution Yield Contribution Bread (Civ4) Hammer (Civ4) Coin (Civ4)
Terrain Grassland +2 0 0
" Flatland 0 0 0
" No Terrain feature 0 0 0
" No river 0 0 0
Resource Gems Gems (Civ4) tile bonus 0 0 +1
Improvement Mine base yield 0 +2 0
" No railroad 0 0 0
Improvement Bonus

from Resource

Mine Bonus

from Gems Gems (Civ4)

0 -1 +5
Buildings None
Total Yield on Tile ..................................... 2 1 6

See also[]

Civilization IV [edit]
WarlordsBeyond the SwordColonization
† Total conversion remake of the game Sid Meier's Colonization using Civilization IV engine
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