Terrain (Civ6)

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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 Features

As in previous titles, all terrain in the game consists of a combination of three elements:

1. Base terrain, which denotes the basic soil type of the tile and comes with pre-determined qualities;
2. Terrain features, which are special formations of some sort (vegetation, relief, etc.) that build upon the qualities of the base terrain and add new gameplay elements to it;
3. Resources, which are special minerals or vegetation, important for your civilization in some way.

Unlike in Civilization V, terrain features do NOT completely overwrite the base terrain yield, but rather add to it some bonus; resources stack on top of both base terrain and features. Another major change is that Tile Improvements now do not remove terrain features, and their bonuses simply stack on top of these of base terrain + features + resources! So, for example, Hills 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. When you build a Mine on it, the total yield (after all tech researched) will be 2 Food, 4 Production on Grassland, and 1 Food, 5 Production on Plains. As before, any additional resources stack with these base bonuses, and eventual Improvements.

Here follows a list of terrain types and features:

Base Terrain

		Base Yield	Notes
	Coast	1 Food, 1 Gold	All water tiles next to land
	Desert	None	Can have some special features on it, such as Oasis
	Grassland	2 Food
	Lake	1 Food, 1 Gold	Small expanse of water, surrounded by land
	Ocean	1 Food	Water tiles far from land
	Plains	1 Food, 1 Production
	Tundra	1 Food	Extensive regions in the north/south parts of the map
	Snow	None	Extreme north/south of map, past tundra

Features

		Yield Modifiers	Notes
	Cataract	None	Exclusive to Gifts of the Nile. Found on Nile River tiles; takes 4 Movement movement to cross.
	Cliffs	None	Found on Coastal Hills. Blocks embarkation and disembarkation; increases Appeal.
	Floodplains	+3 Food	Modify deserts. Found on flat land adjacent to rivers.
	Hills	+1 Production	Provide Defense bonus.
	Ice	None	Found on Ocean and Coast tiles; Impassable.
	Marsh	+1 Food	Modifies grasslands. Removing Marsh provides one-time Food in the city (depending on era).
	Mountains	None	Cannot be worked and is Impassable, but may boost 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 one-time Food and Production in the city (depending on era).
	Reef	+1 Food, +1 Production	Modifies Coasts.
	River	None	Increases Appeal. Provides Fresh Water.
	Woods	+1 Production	Increases Appeal to adjacent tiles. Removing Woods provides one-time Production in the city (depending on era).

Added in the Rise and Fall expansion pack.

Terrain Appeal

Main article: Appeal (Civ6)

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 depends on the Appeal of the tile.

Natural Wonders

Main article: Natural wonder (Civ6)

In Civilization VI, Natural Wonders are unique terrain features that may be found scattered throughout the world. All natural wonders cover between 1 and 4 tiles, and provide powerful bonuses which are of great strategic importance to nearby civilizations. Though players cannot build districts or improvements on wonder tiles, the bonuses they provide to their surroundings make them attractive locations for constructing cities.

Finding Wonders

Natural wonders are relatively uncommon, and are scattered randomly around the map. As a result, natural wonders are strategically valuable, and should be played around carefully. They may generally be found in terrain that is similar to their real-life environment: stand-alone wonders are usually situated in open regions of a suitable type (e.g. Uluru is always circled by desert tiles), and wonders that are part of larger structures tend to be placed in their appropriate surroundings (e.g. Mount Everest is always part of a range of mountains).

Though many natural wonders have similar properties to their ordinary terrain counterparts, this is not always the case. For instance, all mountainous wonders are impassable, but they are not treated as mountain tiles unless specified otherwise in their in-game notes. Mount Everest and Mount Kilimanjaro are considered mountains, and provide adjacency bonuses to Campus and Holy Site districts, while Eyjafjallajökull and Torres del Paine are not, despite being described as mountains in their introductory quotes.

File:Torres del Paine closeup.jpg

Torres del Paine is not considered a mountain in-game.

Bonuses and Effects

An illustration of how adjacency bonuses stack with Mount Roraima. Wonder tiles are shown in brown.

Though each natural wonder is unique, all wonders have a few things in common. Natural wonder tiles cannot be improved, nor can the player construct districts or wonders on them. All natural wonders provide +2 Appeal to adjacent tiles, which makes them ideal spots for Neighborhoods and National Parks.

Natural wonders can be broadly categorized into "passable" and "impassable" wonders (depending on whether or not units can move on the wonder tiles). Generally speaking, passable wonders provide bonuses to the wonder tiles themselves, while impassable wonders provide bonuses to the surrounding landscape.

Passable wonders are usually modified forms of ordinary terrain features that provide extra Culture, Science, Gold, or Faith in addition to the normal yields from a tile of their type. Passable wonder tiles share some traits with terrain: Marsh wonders (such as Pantanal and Ubsunur Hollow) have a higher Movement Movement cost, and Lake wonders (such as Crater Lake and the Dead Sea) provide fresh water to adjacent tiles.

Most impassable wonders are modified forms of impassable terrain such as mountains and rock formations. Their bonuses extend to adjacent tiles, often providing extra Culture, Science, or Faith to their surroundings. (Note that these bonuses stack for each adjacent tile - see diagram for a visual explanation.) Many impassable wonders also grant units a one-time bonus, such as a free promotion.

In Rise and Fall, each natural wonder grants +1 Era Score when it is discovered, or +3 Score if the player is the first to do so.

Strategy

Because natural wonders are relatively scarce, they should be used strategically. Each natural wonder has unique advantages and abilities (as well as disadvantages), so no single strategy is effective in all cases. Natural wonders always provide +2 Appeal to adjacent tiles, and many offer additional Culture, Science, and/or Faith. Players looking for a Culture Victory may wish to look out for nearby wonders, and should compete to incorporate them into their cities whenever possible. (National Parks are one of the best sources of Tourism later in the game.)

Impassable wonders are perhaps the easiest to use effectively. Impassable wonder tiles offer no benefits, and cannot be worked by citizens or be otherwise developed. Large impassable wonders are most effective when they are on the outskirts of cities (or even slightly beyond the city's border), since the wonder tiles are essentially dead space. If a city is strategically placed in this fashion, it receives the adjacency benefits of the wonder without sacrificing valuable development space. Note that impassable wonder tiles can be incorporated into National Parks - if a player seeks to create a Park, then placing the City Center closer to the wonder might be more helpful.

Passable wonders are somewhat harder to use. Their bonuses almost always apply to the wonder tiles themselves, so they are most effective when incorporated within city limits. Since Culture, Science, and Faith production are slower in the early game, placing a city adjacent to a wonder like Crater Lake can give the player an enormous head start towards founding a Pantheon. However, later in the game, natural wonders may be more of a hindrance than an asset - a natural wonder near the City Center can spoil adjacency bonuses for Farms and districts. In short, passable wonder tiles are significantly better than an unimproved tile of any kind, but are often less productive than an ordinary tile with an improvement or a district.

List of Natural wonders

Natural Wonder (Civ6)/List of Natural Wonders