Roads (Civ6)

Roads
Introduced in Civilization VI
Built by	Trader  Military Engineer
Unlocked by	Foreign Trade
Effects
Improves Movement Movement speed of any unit moving from one road tile to another.

Back to the list of tile improvements

Roads are a special type of tile improvement in Civilization VI. They accelerate the Movement Movement of units on land, permitting them also to cross rough terrain and features such as forests and rivers easily.

Roads are not created by Builders, but automatically by Traders as they serve their Trade Route Trade Routes on land. Alternatively, roads may be created by Military Engineers, although this is a much more tedious process. An Engineer may only build a Road on 1 tile at a time, and each tile consumes one of its build charges (before researching Steam Power). Since each one has 2 charges only, you can see that they can't be a good alternative to road building in the early through middle game. So, consider establishing strategic Trade Route Trade Routes early in the game, so that you can have a good road network around the middle game.

Every district (including the City Center) and wonder automatically creates a road on its tile, which remains even if the feature is pillaged or the city is razed. Roads themselves can be manually pillaged by a marauding military unit.

Types of Roads, upgrading

Roads may be upgraded with technology, or more specifically, with reaching certain individual eras. At this, all roads in your territory will upgrade automatically to the next level. Roads in neutral lands, however, will remain the same until one of your Traders passes along them again (effectively paving a brand new road over the old one).

Note that in the case the Trader of another civilization which has unlocked higher class roads enters your territory, they will also upgrade the road they are using or creating.

In Gathering Storm, Military Engineers are able to upgrade any road to a Railroad once Steam Power has been developed. This is done at the rate of 1 tile per turn and costs 1 Iron Iron and Coal Coal each, but does not consume build charges. In fact, after Railroad is unlocked, even building it on 'virgin' land won't consume charges anymore!

Name	Era	Notes
Ancient Roads	Ancient	Starting road, well-packed dirt. Most terrain costs 1 MP; crossing rivers still costs 3 MP.
Classical Roads	Classical	Adds bridges over rivers; crossing them now also costs 1 MP.
Industrial Roads	Industrial	Paved roads are developed; 0.75 MP per tile.
Modern Roads	Modern	Asphalted roads are developed; 0.50 MP per tile.

Strategy

Creating roads in Civilization VI becomes less of a hurdle and more of a clever strategic choice at the right moment. You should always remember that roads are now created as a byproduct of Trade Route Trade Routes, so each time you have to start a new route, take a moment and consider if you can use it to create a road to somewhere you need (and don't need). For example, if there is a nearby civilization or city-state you would like to attack, consider sending a Trade Route Trade Route first so a road forms, allowing your army to reach said civ or city-state more quickly. This is especially important in the early game, when there are no roads at all and your military may easily get bogged down in hilly or forested terrain while trying to reach its target. Later in the game, a considerable road network will exist thanks to both domestic trade and your neighbors trading with your cities, so road creation will be almost unnecessary.

Gallery

An Ancient-era road, as seen in-game

A Classical-era road, as seen in-game

An Industrial-era road, as seen in-game

A Modern-era road, as seen in-game

Related achievements

Trans-Siberian Railroad Playing as Russia, have a city that is at least 60 tiles away from your capital, connected by a Trade Route and road at the start of the turn. The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East, and the longest railway line in the world.