Community Feature: Worker Improvements

Workers represent the men and women who build your empire. They clear the jungles and build the farms which feed your cities. They dig the mines that provide you with precious gold and mighty iron. They lay the roads which connect your cities. Today I outline all of the improvements that workers are capable of building:

Camp. Used to improve Ivory, Furs, and Deer resources. Increases the tile yield based on the type of resource being improved (gold for Ivory and Fur, food for Deer.) Requires Trapping.

Farm. Increases the food yield of a tile, and can be built on Grassland, Plains, and Desert tiles. Requires Agriculture. There are also a couple technologies that increase the yield bonus of farms.

Fort. A special improvement that does not increase a tile’s yield nor provide access to a resource. Instead, a fort improves a tile’s defensive bonus. Forts do not provide a bonus to units in enemy territory. Requires Engineering.

Lumber Mill. Built on forest tiles. Increases production yield. Requires Engineering.

Mine. Used to improve a large number of resources, such as Iron, Coal, Gems and Gold. Increases the production yield of a tile, plus an additional increase if a resource is being improved. Can only be built on hills. Requires Mining.

Oil Well. Provides access to an oil resource. Requires Biology.

Pasture. Improves Horses, Cattle, and Sheep resources. Increases the tile yield based on the resource (production for Horses and Cattle, food for Sheep.) Requires Animal Husbandry.

Plantation. Improves several resources such as Bananas, Silk, Sugar, Wine, and Incense. Increases the tile yield based on the type of resource being improved. Requires Calendar.

Quarry. Improves the Marble resource. Increases production and gold yield of the tile. Requires Masonry.

Trading Post. Increases the gold yield of a tile, and can be built on Grassland, Plains, Desert, and Tundra tiles. Requires Trapping.

Road. Increases the movement speed of units moving along them. Connecting cities to your capital will provide a large amount of gold per turn. Costs 1 gold per turn to maintain. Requires The Wheel.

Railroad. Significantly increases the movement speed of units moving across them. Connecting cities to your capital by Railroad will give them a Production bonus. Costs 2 gold per turn to maintain. Requires Railroad.

In addition, Work Boats can construct the following. Constructing either of these improvements consumes the Work Boat:

Fishing Boats. Used to improve Fish, Whales, and Peals resources. Increases the gold yield of the tile. Requires Sailing.

Offshore Platform. Provides access to an oil resource found in the sea. Requires Refrigeration.

The biggest change fans of the Civilization series will notice is the fact that roads and railroads now cost gold to maintain. Gone are the days of building a road in every tile on the entire map; you will now need to carefully think about where to place your roads. Will you build redundant routes to make it harder for your enemies to cut off your trade routes? Will you build temporary roads during wartime to speed up the deployment of your troops? These are the sorts of things you will have to start considering when you get your hands on Civilization V!