I don't think terrain elevation is a thing.

[AriochIV]

Inland cliffs were present in CivBE and I always hoped Civ7 would have them since Civ6 skipped on them. I'm happy \o/

I found those extremely annoying, because if I recall correctly they often ran in long canyons. That was a real pain.

The cliffs I've seen so far in Civ7 seem much more limited in length. Terrain should be interesting, not frustrating.

 

[JNR13]

You're entirely right. Civilization is inconsistent with spatial scale very often besides cliffs, and it's even worse with temporal scales. Making everything fit the "correct" scales would be a disaster. But cliffs still stick out like a sore thumb at me. Maybe because they're unnecessary? Having small cities take up a whole hex makes sense because taking up a fraction of a hex would be a confusing mess. But I don't see the "why" of cliffs yet. Hence why I hope they'll be tactically cool enough that I'll overlook their out-of-place-ness.

As long as cities don't just ignore cliffs and grow over them like in Humankind...

 

[8housesofelixir]

It so happens that, in the Nintendo reveal, there is one scene that shows what looks like a waterfall on a cliff, with the elevation behind and in front of the cliff has very noticeable differences -

In this scene, you can also see how half of the city is on a cliff and higher than the terrain below. The fact that the Petra wonder is built inside a cliff also shows the terrain differences.

This should confirm the existence of terrain elevations.

 

[GeneralZIft]

If it's anything like the Age of Empires example you gave, it's not only aesthetic, but you'd gain a damage boost firing across and down the cliff as a form of high ground bonus.

 

[AntSou]

In this scene, you can also see how half of the city is on a cliff and higher than the terrain below.

That might just be a visual trick. That's why I gave the Age of Empires example, which uses cliffs to give the impression of height, but it's just a sprite. If you use plain stone as a stripe instead of the cliff, the illusion of height is lost. Those are likely just 3d objects adjacent to the edge of the tile in Civ 7.

If it's anything like the Age of Empires example you gave, it's not only aesthetic, but you'd gain a damage boost firing across and down the cliff as a form of high ground bonus.

I expect that will be the case when using cliffs. But it is not elevation. Has in, the terrain being higher on the Z axis.

Humankind uses actual elevation. Amplitude has been using elevation since Endless Legend and I felt it really gave the map extra zest.

By it not being actual elevation, we still get some tactical advantages etc, but it means other potential changes are still probably not coming in Civ 7.