Why do plains yield production? They are by definition just less arid deserts.

[Perseus Gold]

Is there any justification given as to why plains which have no resources or trees in them grant production other than "it was the way the game devs wanted it?". I can't think of any rational reason for it, they should just be lower quality grasslands.

 

[Equilin]

I think plain tiles just represent regular country areas where everything (crops, labors, handmade stuffs, etc.) comes in mix and thus represented by the prod.
Grasslands represents crop fields with miscellaneous resources that are not in the game.

 

[bbbt]

Well I think plains are just defined as 'flat land' in the 'real world'- so you can have grassland plains and desert plains, but plains hills would be something of a oxymoron. So as used in the game it's basically a construct for game mechanic purposes (as are the majority of things in the game).

 

[dagriggstar]

Grasslands could be areas that, while the soils are overall better for farming, are more prone to flooding (due to increased rainfall) which in turn would mean less infrastructure (gets periodically destroyed). Plains would have less good soils, but more infrastructure as the climate is more stable.

But really, I think it's just for gameplay reasons.

 

[Esperr]

Is there any justification for why 'murica spawns next to greece and they both adopt communism.

 

[unpossible251]

In my mind, I always picture farms on plains as places where people grow cotton, hemp, palm, rubber, soft wood, or animal fodder... less rain & acidic soil, but quite good for some inedible crops. Farms on grasslands are for "foodbowl" farming, with more rain & nitrogen rich earth. I'm sure a real farmer could probably elaborate better than me.

 

[Esperr]

In my mind, I always picture farms on plains as places where people grow cotton, hemp, palm, rubber, soft wood, or animal fodder... less rain & acidic soil, but quite good for some inedible crops. Farms on grasslands are for "foodbowl" farming, with more rain & nitrogen rich earth. I'm sure a real farmer could probably elaborate better than me.

Modern farms are dug out and tilled over hundreds of times before any crops are placed down. Its why there corn randomly in the midwest and cashews and were oranges all over southern California(in the U.S). "Farms" are no longer like civilization farms at all anymore.

 

[Equilin]

On my last trip to Japan in July they still looks like ones in Civ for me. Bird eye view from a landing plane of course.

 

[Disgustipated]

They've been this way since Civ2 (and presumably Civ1) days. Just a holdover from older games.

It seems to be this way to offer a "compromise" and balance to the inferior food production of plains tiles. The game would be less interesting if everything was the same. Personally I wouldn't mind if they got rid of this old mechanic. And as mentioned above, modern farming doesn't really care about those things anyways. Water is the #1 requirement. California does give a huge chunk of our food production here in the U.S. and it is semi arid in many places. They just happen to have access to lots of water from the Colorado river and the Sierra mountains.

 

[Arent11]

Is there any justification given as to why plains which have no resources or trees in them grant production other than "it was the way the game devs wanted it?". I can't think of any rational reason for it, they should just be lower quality grasslands.

That's just highly simplified & stems from civ 1. In civ 1 you basically had:

(1) Flat area with lots of water & good soil = grasslands, food, occasionally also production (in civ 1)
(2) Flat area with less water/soil = plains, less useful for farming, but maybe more useful for mining/infrastructure
(3) Hills = Hills, less useful for farming (In civ 1, in civ 6 these are superduper all around tiles), but great for mining, especially if there is coal or iron to be found
(4) Forests = Forest, a little food & production
(5) Jungle = Jungle, food
(6) Desert, tundra, ice = less useful
(7) Mountains = Mountains, only production

-> You see that in civ 1 also grasslands could yield small amounts of production, which were the best tiles in that incarnation of civilization.

 

[Arent11]

http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Grassland_(Civ1)

These open lands have especially thick topsoil making them excellent food producing areas. Food production can be increased by irrigation. Roughly half of the Grasslands also have some resources, making them excellent city sites. Grasslands may be converted into Forests for increased resource production.

Grasslands produce 2 food and either 0 or 1 resource.

http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Plains_(Civ1)

Plains are open areas that differ from Grassland in having poorer soil but better resources of timber and minerals. They are poor food producers unless irrigated. Due to the presence of resources and the automatic irrigation a new city gets, they make good choices for city sites. Plains may be converted into forests by Settlers.

Plains produce 1 food and 1 resource.

 

[Depravo]

I always thought of it as plains being ideal grazing land, so what you're seeing is the by-products of that (wool etc) plus ready availability of pack animals for transport - though really that would be more of commercial / purely military production benefit rather than an across the board production buff. Unpossible's answer above is probably a better rationalisation.

 

[PYITE]

Environmental factors have the largest effect on what type of crops are grown in a specified area; the most important being temperature.

Grassland are warmer and would allow a longer growing season suitable for higher value food crops such as fruits and vegetables.

Plains would be more temperate areas where they grow field crops such as grains, corn, fibers and soy bean.

Tundra - growing season very short

Desert - no water or fertility except where flood plains occur which act like super grasslands

Agricultural systems are far more complicated than most people think. There aren’t farms around each city growing food for the local citizens.

For example:

75% of all US consumed vegetables are grown in California

99% of corn grown is field corn that is breed to be either high in oil content (vegetable oil) or protein (animal feed). The remaining 1% is the sweet corn we eat.