Terrain (Civ6)

The term terrain encompasses the geographical features of the map in Civilization VI. As in recent Civilization titles, it consists of hexagonal tiles, each of which possesses certain properties and gameplay effects. At the most basic level, terrain is divided into land, which forms the inhabitable parts of the map, where most of the gameplay happens; and water, which envelops the land and completes the map.

Geographical Organization

In Civilization VI all landmass is separated into continents, but continents are not necessarily always separated by water. As per game rules, when each map is initially formed, even if it joins all land into a single continuous landmass, the engine will still separate it logically into several continents. So, it is possible to see two land tiles next to each other which belong to different continents! On the other hand, it is possible for an island to belong to a nearby continent, even being fully separated by water.

The reason for this is because some gameplay effects involve different continents. So, for these to remain possible, on every map there is need for different continents, even if the land was created as a single, continuous landmass.

Terrain Appeal

In Civilization VI, there is a brand new attribute associated with terrain: Appeal. Each tile receives an Appeal rating based on a combination of factors including the tile's base terrain and the features on and adjacent to it. Some Wonders and Great People also increase the Appeal rating of tiles.

The Appeal of a tile has some important gameplay effects, mainly related to Faith, Tourism, and Housing Housing. For example, building Tourism-related buildings and improvements on or next to tiles with high Appeal will increase their effect! The Housing Housing output of Neighborhood districts also depend on the Appeal of the tile. For more information, check here.

Terrain Features

As in previous titles, all terrain in the game consists of a combination of two elements: base terrain, which is the basic type of the tile and comes with pre-determined qualities; and terrain features, which build upon the qualities of the base terrain and add new gameplay elements to it, such as resources.

Unlike in Civilization V, terrain features do NOT completely overwrite the base terrain yield, but rather add to it a +1 Production bonus (and also allow the respective tile improvements). So, for example, a Hill on a Grassland terrain will have a total yield of 2 Food and 1 Production, while on a Plains terrain it will be 1 Food and 2 Production. As before, any additional resources stack with these base bonuses.

Here follows a list of terrain types and features:

Base Terrain

	Base Yield	Notes
Coast	1 Food, 1 Gold
Desert	None
Grassland	2 Food
Lake	1 Food, 1 Gold
Ocean	1 Food
Plains	1 Food, 1 Production
Tundra	1 Food
Snow	None

Features

	Yield Modifiers	Notes
Cliffs	None	Cannot embark, increases Appeal.
Floodplains	+3 Food	Modifies deserts. Found adjacent to rivers.
Hills	+1 Production	Defense bonus. A City founded on a hill has +1 Production in its center tile.
Ice	None	Impassable.
Marsh	+1 Food	Modifies grasslands. Removing Marsh provides 100 Food in the city (adjusted by game speed and difficulty).
Mountain	None	Impassable, but boosts certain districts.
Oasis	+3 Food, +1 Gold	Modifies deserts. Provides Fresh Water.
Rainforest	+1 Food	Modifies Plains. Decreases Appeal to adjacent tiles. Removing Rainforest provides 50  Food and 50 Production in the city (adjusted by game speed and difficulty).
River	None	Increases Appeal. Provides Fresh Water.
Woods	+1 Production	Increases Appeal to adjacent tiles. Removing Woods provides 100 Production in the city (adjusted by game speed and difficulty).

Natural Wonders

In Civilization VI Natural Wonders also change. Most of them now cover more than 1 tile, but rather than providing bonus yields only to the tile where they're found, they now provide yields to all tiles adjacent to them (but not on the tiles where they're found)! This makes them potentially much more useful especially in the early game, as they can boost Faith (allowing earlier access to Pantheons), Science (allowing faster progress through the tech tree), Gold, Culture (allowing quicker access to early Civics), Food, and Production.

Note, however, that there is no bonus Happiness provided now when discovering the Natural Wonder, despite the really catchy animation that goes with it. Also, most special effects are gone, with certain exceptions.

Most Natural Wonder tiles are impassable.

Adjacency Bonuses

The Natural Wonders that bestow bonuses to adjacent tiles are prime city locations. For example, a city on flat land has +2 Food and +1 Production (2 for hill) on its center tile, whereas a city adjacent to Mount Kilimanjaro has +4 Food and +1 Production (2 for hill) on its center tile.

Conversely, a city district will delete these adjacency bonuses. For example, an Aqueduct adjacent to Mount Kilimanjaro would not provide any food, only the housing.

	Bonus Yields	Narration
Cliffs of Dover	Two tile natural wonder. It appears with Cliffs adjacent to water and provides +3 Culture and +2 Gold. (Looks like Grassland, but cannot be improved and provides no Food.)	"Under the White Cliff's battlemented crown, Hushed to a depth of more than Sabbath peace." -William Wordsworth
Crater Lake	One tile natural wonder. It appears as a Lake and provides +4 Faith, +1 Science, and Fresh Water.	"Never again can I gaze upon the beauty spots of the Earth and enjoy them as being the finest thing I have ever seen. Crater Lake is above them all." -Jack London
Dead Sea	Two tile natural wonder. It appears as a Lake and provides +2 Faith, +2 Culture, and Fresh Water. Units heal completely if they heal for one turn adjacent to the Dead Sea.	"Like to the apples on the Dead Sea's shore, all ashes to the taste." -Lord Byron
Galapagos Islands	Two tile impassable natural wonder. It appears on coastal terrain and provides +2 Science to adjacent tiles. (Two of the eight affected tiles gain a +4 bonus because of the overlap of adjacent tiles.)	"The natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself." -Charles Darwin
Great Barrier Reef	Two tile natural wonder that can be found on coastal terrain and provides +3 Food and +2 Science.	"Organisms don't think of CO2 as a poison. Plants and organisms that make shells, coral, think of it as a building block." -Janine Benyus
Mount Everest	Three tile impassible natural wonder. It appears as a Mountain and provides +1 Faith to adjacent tiles. Missionaries, Inquisitors, and Apostles who move next to Mount Everest ignore Hills for the rest of the game.	"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." -Sir Edmund Hillary
Mount Kilimanjaro	One tile impassable natural wonder. It appears as a Mountain and provides +2 Food to adjacent tiles.	"As it turns out, Mount Kilimanjaro is not wi-fi enabled, so I had to spend two weeks in Tanzania talking to the people on my trip." -Nancy Bonds
Pantanal	Four tile natural wonder. It appears as Marsh and provides +2 Food and +2 Culture.	"The Pantanal is the most complex intertropical alluvional plain of the planet and perhaps the least known area of the world." -Aziz Ab'Saber
Piopiotahi	Three tile impassible natural wonder. Provides +1 Culture and +1 Gold to adjacent tiles. (Three of the nine affected tiles gain +2 bonuses because of the overlap of adjacent tiles.)	"But as I headed into the heart of New Zealand's fiordland that same child-like feeling, long lost, of pure unadulterated awe came rushing back. I knew the road to Milford Sound was good - but this good?" -Darroch Donald
Torres del Paine	Two tile impassible natural wonder. Doubles the (base) terrain yields of all adjacent tiles. (Forest, Rainforest and Marsh bonus is unchanged.)	"Several closely situated granite peaks resembling tiger's teeth dramatically soar about a kilometer into the sky." -Howard Hillman
Tsingy de Bemaraha	One tile impassable natural wonder. Provides +1 Culture and +1 Science to adjacent tiles.	"Tsingy is a 250-square-mile tiger trap made up on massive obelisks riddled with jagged spears. And yes, they will cut your pretty face." -Budd Erickson
Yosemite	Two tile impassable natural wonder. Provides +1 Gold and +1 Science to adjacent tiles. (Two of the eight affected tiles gain +2 bonuses because of the overlap of adjacent tiles.)	"Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space." -Ansel Adams