Are there really no tile improvements that can be built on tundra, desert, and snow?

[ruhrgebietheld]

Even when those tiles are next to fresh water, it appears that I'm unable to build any sort of improvement on them, unless there's a resource on the tile. So are all these tiles essentially useless for anything other than placing districts? Or am I missing a policy or tech or something like that which would allow me to build improvements on these tiles?

 

[Aldor]

Stepwell can be built on tundra. Sphinx can be built on desert. I assume unique improvements can be built on any tile as long as their placement restrictions are met.

 

[HF22]

Colossal heads can go on tundra, though not snow, so I assume the uniques will generally work.

 

[Takfloyd]

Terrain restrictions are way too rigid in this game. Don't have hills around your city? You're pretty much screwed out of ever making it prosper unless you stack trade routes on it, because production is everything and it basically only comes in adequate quantities from mines, which can only be built on hills.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Even without unique improvements, you could fill most of useless land with districts and wonders.

 

[JuhQman]

Terrain restrictions are way too rigid in this game. Don't have hills around your city? You're pretty much screwed out of ever making it prosper unless you stack trade routes on it, because production is everything and it basically only comes in adequate quantities from mines, which can only be built on hills.

Then don't found a city somewhere where there are no hills?

 

[Staal]

Terrain restrictions are way too rigid in this game. Don't have hills around your city? You're pretty much screwed out of ever making it prosper unless you stack trade routes on it, because production is everything and it basically only comes in adequate quantities from mines, which can only be built on hills.

You can eventually plant woods and build lumbermills. Granted it is not an immediate or optimal solution but you are not "pretty much screwed". Best cities will always be those along rivers, as it should be imo.

 

[x2Madda]

Then don't found a city somewhere where there are no hills?

Yeah, good one mate! Sound advice! Brilliant. I always waste a few turns traversing marsh or desert or tundra or snow or ocean-coastal starts just looking for a hilly region to settle my first city or secondary cities and it has no impact on the game outcome whatsoever when I play on Prince and below...Which is never.
Sometimes you have to settle in a "bad" spot, for a game that advertised as "play the map" they don't give us the tools to do so, but blame the player I suppose.

You can eventually plant woods and build lumbermills. Granted it is not an immediate or optimal solution but you are not "pretty much screwed". Best cities will always be those along rivers, as it should be imo.

You are pretty much screwed because you need production to build a campus or at the very least to be drowning in food for a lesse science rate. On Prince and below, anything goes and they should rename those difficulties as "sandbox" for civ6, but on King or higher, the AI is going to attempt to kill you. This means you need to be up and running well enough to defend your capital as a few slingers won't cut it. The AI now gets a flat damage increase the higher in difficulty you go/

And don't even expect a game to last long enough during online play to be able to plant your own forest, online games are over in Ancient era!

 

[mzprox]

I always build a city when it can secure at least two luxuries even if i have more several copies of them already.. the ai will buy it and from that money i will buy an other settler eventually.

 

[JuhQman]

Yeah, good one mate! Sound advice! Brilliant. I always waste a few turns traversing marsh or desert or tundra or snow or ocean-coastal starts just looking for a hilly region to settle my first city or secondary cities and it has no impact on the game outcome whatsoever when I play on Prince and below...Which is never.
Sometimes you have to settle in a "bad" spot, for a game that advertised as "play the map" they don't give us the tools to do so, but blame the player I suppose.

So your point is you don't get an amazing starting location every game and thus there is a problem? Now I get that having your first city in a bad spot is a problem but you can always re-roll. Nothing to it. It also isn't a civ6 problem. Terrain has always had it's role in civ games.

For secondaries...Well there will always be hilly regions. It might be further away. But that's the whole point. Will you settle a worse location closer to your cap or one further away that might be a better location. It's called an active decision and I for one love the fact that you have to make them.

 

[DubiousSquirrel]

you can always re-roll.

You cant actually. You can quit to main menu and create a new game.

 

[Magil]

For Russia I like to plant forests in Tundra, then build Lumbermills in the forest. That does come quite late in the game though.

 

[Staal]

You are pretty much screwed because you need production to build a campus or at the very least to be drowning in food for a lesse science rate.

I was talking in terms of the average city in general. You seem to be talking about your first 2-3 cities. It will be a rarity to have very little production like you are describing. 80% of the time you should have at least 2 cities with good production starting off. So I really don't see what your issue is. I get the impression you are implying that the design/system is at fault. It is not. There will always be a fluctuation in starting terrain but not nearly to the extent you are implying.

EDIT: Yes, play the map. Usually your have to choose between two less than perfect options. That is what makes the game interesting. If your choices were always cut and dried it would lose a lot of replay value.

 

[Myth and Legend]

My take is such: I have limited time to play. I would rather play an enjoyable start. Playing with a low production start or completely boxed in by mountain ranges or some such is a sub optimal use of my time. Can such games be won? Probably, domination snowballs and you only need 4-5 archers and some melee from your capital, you can use the AI's cities later on. But sometimes for me it's more important to pursue a certain playstile or victory condition than to "win the map" at all costs, especially if said costs translate to time invested in getting a Dom victory as the only viable one.

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

Terrain restrictions are way too rigid in this game.

Too rigid..... and too few!
Another unnecessary & strategy eroding simplification inherited from civ5

 

[Magil]

Too rigid..... and too few!
Another unnecessary & strategy eroding simplification inherited from civ5

Uh, this kind of thing has been pretty common in the Civ series. Some land is better than other land. That's quite intentional, if all land was the same value, then it wouldn't matter where you settled and competition for land would decrease.

Civ VI has at least avoided the problem of weak terrain improvements, terrain in VI can be improved to produce large yields reminiscent of Civ IV.

 

[Staal]

My take is such: I have limited time to play. I would rather play an enjoyable start. Playing with a low production start or completely boxed in by mountain ranges or some such is a sub optimal use of my time. Can such games be won? Probably, domination snowballs and you only need 4-5 archers and some melee from your capital, you can use the AI's cities later on. But sometimes for me it's more important to pursue a certain playstile or victory condition than to "win the map" at all costs, especially if said costs translate to time invested in getting a Dom victory as the only viable one.

Reroll till you get want you want them. Or play with abundant resources/legendary start or whatever it is called.

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

Uh, this kind of thing has been pretty common in the Civ series. Some land is better than other land. That's quite intentional, if all land was the same value, then it wouldn't matter where you settled and competition for land would decrease.

Civ VI has at least avoided the problem of weak terrain improvements, terrain in VI can be improved to produce large yields reminiscent of Civ IV.

What non-unique improvements can you put on plains/grassland in civ6? A farm. That's it.
Where's the decision making there? (besides deciding whether to spend the builder charge....)

The inter-tile dependencies that Civ6 introduces do add some interesting complexity and problem solving to city layout, but the fundamental diversity of tile improvements just isn't there.
On tiles without resources, it's pretty much Farms or Mines. (or in the case of Tundra, neither)

 

[KrikkitTwo]

What non-unique improvements can you put on plains/grassland in civ6? A farm. That's it.
Where's the decision making there? (besides deciding whether to spend the builder charge....)

The inter-tile dependencies that Civ6 introduces do add some interesting complexity and problem solving to city layout, but the fundamental diversity of tile improvements just isn't there.
On tiles without resources, it's pretty much Farms or Mines. (or in the case of Tundra, neither)

options for non resource tiles (by end of the game)...not counting removable features..because they can be removed

flat tundra... build a forest+lumber mill
hill tundra... forest+lumbermill OR mine

flat grass/plains....forest+lumbermill OR farm
hill grass/plains....forest+lumbermill OR farm OR mine

flat desert..none
hill desert...mine

floodplains...farm

(or District for all of those except flood plains)

 

[Magil]

What non-unique improvements can you put on plains/grassland in civ6? A farm. That's it.
Where's the decision making there? (besides deciding whether to spend the builder charge....)

I mean, sure, if you ignore the entire district system and wonders. Improvements have been scaled back because the other yields you would've looked for in tile improvements are elsewhere. In any case, there are some late-game alternatives in planting forests for national parks and setting up seaside resorts (for a cultural victory at least, which is far easier to achieve than a science victory in the current iteration).