Tile improvement (Civ7)

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A tile improvement (or Improvement for short) is a modification to a tile that increases its yields, gives access to Resources, improves a civilization's defensive capabilities, or provides infrastructure in Civilization VII and its expansions. Placing Tile Improvements is, apart from developing its Cities, the most common way for a civilization to ensure its advancement in the game.

Mechanics

A tile can be improved when a Settlement gains an extra population and triggers a growth event. This new Citizen can either be assigned as a specialist within a Building or placed on an unimproved tile to construct a basic Improvement.

Placement requirements

For a basic Improvement to be constructed, the tile:

• Must be within your Settlement's borders.
• Must be rural and unimproved.
• Cannot be an Open Ocean or Ice tile.
• Must be adjacent to at least one of the following:
  • Another Improvement.
  • A Building.
  • A Wonder that is also adjacent to a Building.

Once these conditions are met, the tile transforms into a rural district, a basic Improvement is built on top of it, and +1 "rural" population is added to the Settlement.

Enhancement and Specialization

Players cannot manually select which basic Improvement is built — it is determined by the tile's terrain or Resource. Initially, Tile Improvements do not provide additional yields but instead collect the natural yields of the tile. However, they can be enhanced through warehouse bonuses, which are granted when a Settlement constructs a warehouse Building that adds flat bonuses to specific Improvement types. Additionally, some Wonders provide further enhancements to certain Improvements.

Since only a limited number of Improvement types can benefit from warehouse bonuses in Towns, focusing on a specific type of Improvement is advisable when specializing a Settlement. Tile Improvements also serve as a prerequisite for constructing unique Improvements, which can be built on top of them.

Modification and Exploitation

Tile Improvements are not permanent and can be removed if a Building or Wonder is constructed on the same tile. When this happens, the Improvement is lost, and the assigned Citizen is freed, allowing for reassignment. This occurs even if the construction project is canceled immediately.

Since Tile Improvements expand a Settlement’s borders to adjacent tiles, players can strategically place and cancel Wonders to relocate Improvements to manipulate borders — either to adjust yield generation or to expand territory more efficiently.

Resources and finality

Some tiles contain Resources, which can only be harvested once the tile is improved. These Resources provide various benefits, such as bonus Combat Strength for your military units or additional yields for the Settlement. However, Resources are an exception to tile modification rules — since Buildings and Wonders cannot be constructed on Resource tiles, improving a Resource tile, as well as mountains or Natural Wonders, is a permanent decision.

List of tile improvements

Main article: List of improvements in Civ7

Videos

Building an empire starts with solid foundations 🧱🏰

Improvements & Yields Gameplay

See also

• Tile improvement in other games

Civilization VII Improvements [edit]
Standard	Camp Clay Pit Expedition Base Farm Fishing Boat Mine Oil Rig Pasture Plantation Quarry Woodcutter
Unique	Bang Baray Caravanserai Great Wall Hawilt Hidden Fortress1 Highland Power Station1 Kabaka's Lake Lo'i Kalo Mawaskawe Skote1 Ming Great Wall Obshchina Örtöö Pairidaeza Potkop Staatseisenbahn Stepwell Terrace Farm
City-State	Company Post Emporium Entrepôt Hillfort Institute Kasbah Megalith Monastery Open-Air Museum Shore Battery Step Pyramid Stone Head
1 Requires DLC

Civilization VII [edit]
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Concepts Age Agenda Archaeology Attribute Building Unique building Celebration Civic Combat Cosmetic Collectible Crisis Difficulty level Diplomacy Alliance Endeavor Espionage Sanction Treaty War War support District Quarter Government Social Policy Tradition Great Work Artifact Codex Relic Ideology Improvement Unique improvement Independent Power City-State Suzerain Jersey System Legacy Path Victory Legend Path Challenge Map Borders Continent Discovery Distant Lands Fresh water Tile Mastery Memento Narrative Event Persona Project Religion Belief Pantheon Resource Settlement Capital City Town Population Specialists Speed Technology Terrain Appeal Natural Wonder Trade Route Unit Air unit Commander Great People Hit Points Land unit Movement Naval unit Promotion Range Sight Strength Unique unit War weariness Wonder Yield Culture Food Gold Happiness Influence Production Science
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