Sid Meier's Civilization V/Terrain and Resources

Each map in the game is composed of many hexagonal tiles, each giving a set yield that will be displayed when moving your cursor over it. A city will get this yield when you assign your citizens work it. A tile's yield depends on the terrain it has, the features on it and whether any improvements are constructed on it.

Resources are scattered across the map on certain tiles, and their benefits can be obtained by constructing improvements on it. There are three types of resources. Bonus resources simply increase the yield you get from a tile. Luxury resources provide happiness and can be used to trade with other empires. They also activate We Love the King Day if you improve one that your city desires, giving that city increased Growth. Strategic resources are required for certain military units and buildings, but can also be used for trading.

The terrain of an area is always an important factor to consider when settling cities, since it will decide how productive and profitable the city is, while granting potential military benefits or penalties.

Terrain

Terrain	Base Yield	Notes
Coast	1 Gold, 1 Food	Can only be worked after researching Sailing.
Desert	None	10% combat penalty
Grassland	2 Food
Hill	2 Production	25% combat bonus.
Mountain	None	25% combat bonus, impassable except for aerial and Carthaginian units.
Ocean	1 Gold, 1 Food	Can only be worked and passed through after researching Astronomy.
Plains	1 Food, 1 Production	10% combat penalty
Snow	None	10% combat penalty
Tundra	1 Food	10% combat penalty

Features

Features exist on various types of terrain, and grants bonus yields to that tile, in addition to certain combat and movement modifiers. Certain types of features like Forests and Marshes can be removed to allow for construction of more improvements or for convenience, but note that they are gone permanently after removal.

Feature	Yield	Found on	Notes
Atoll	1 Food, 1 Production	Coast, Ocean
Fallout	-3 Food, -3 Production, -3 Gold	Nuked tiles	Costs 2 movement points per tile, 15% combat penalty
Flood Plains	2 Food	Desert	10% combat penalty
Forest	1 Food, 1 Production	Grassland, Plains	Costs 2 movement points per tile, 25% combat bonus
Ice	None	Coast, Ocean	Impassable except for aerial and submersible units.
Jungle	1 Food, -1 Production	Grassland	Costs 2 movement points per tile, 25% combat bonus
Lakes	2 Food, 1 Gold	Bodies of water smaller than 10 tiles and surrounded by land.
Marsh	-1 Food	Grassland	Costs 3 movement points per tile, 15% combat penalty
Oasis	3 Food, 1 Gold	Desert	10% combat penalty
Rivers	1 Food	Between certain tiles	Costs all movement points to cross, 20 combat penalty when attacking across a river.

Natural Wonders

Natural Wonders are a new class of wonders. Unlike traditional wonders, they aren't built by a civilization, but are found on certain tiles in every map. By default, every map has a set number of Natural Wonders depending on the size of the map. All Natural Wonders are impassable except to aerial units, and they all grant a permanent Happiness boost when they're discovered. Natural Wonders can also be worked like any tile, and provide enhanced yields if they're located within a city.

Natural Wonder	Yield
Cerro de Potosi	10 Gold
El Dorado	5 Culture
Fountain of Youth	10 Happiness
Krakatoa	5 Science
Mt. Fuji	2 Gold, 3 Culture, 3 Faith
Old Faithful	2 Science, 3 Happiness
Rock of Gibraltar	2 Food, 5 Gold
The Barringer Crater	2 Gold, 3 Science
The Grand Mesa	2 Production, 3 Gold
The Great Barrier Reef	2 Food, 1 Production, 1 Gold, 2 Science
Mt. Kailash (G&K only)	6 Faith, 2 Happiness
Mt. Sinai (G&K only)	8 Faith
Sri Pada (G&K only)	2 Food, 4 Faith, 2 Happiness
Uluru (G&K only)	2 Food, 6 Faith

Bonus Resources

Bonus Resources increase the yield of tiles once improvements are built on them. They are the only type of resource that cannot be used for trading.

Resource	Bonus Yield	Found On	Improved With
Bananas	+1 Food	Jungle	Plantation
Cattle	+1 Food	Grassland	Pasture
Deer	+1 Food	Forest, Hill and Tundra	Camp
Fish	+1 Food	Coast	Fishing Boats
Sheep	+1 Food	Hill, Grassland, Plains and Desert	Pasture
Stone	+1 Production	Hill, Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra and Snow	Quarry
Wheat	+1 Food	Flood Plains and Plains	Farm

Luxury Resources

Luxury Resources grant increased yields on tiles like Bonus Resources, but they also grant Happiness to your empire. However, you can only get Happiness from one copy of a Luxury Resource, which means having many of the same resources will have the same effect of having only one. You can still get more Happiness with multiple types of Luxury Resources, while excess Luxury Resources can be traded with other civilizations.

After Gods and Kings, a few Luxury Resources are manufactured by Mercantile City-States instead of being found on tiles. Forming an alliance with or conquering the City-State will let you obtain these resources.

Resource	Bonus Yield	Found On	Improved With
Cotton	+2 Gold	Grassland, Plains and Desert	Plantation
Dyes	+2 Gold	Jungle and Forest	Plantation
Furs	+2 Gold	Forest and Tundra	Camp
Gems	+3 Gold	Jungle, Hill, Grassland, Plains, Desert and Tundra	Mine
Gold	+2 Gold	Hill, Grassland, Plains and Desert	Mine
Incense	+2 Gold	Plains and Desert	Plantation
Ivory	+2 Gold	Plains	Camp
Marble	+2 Gold	Hill, Grassland, Plains, Desert and Tundra	Quarry
Pearls	+2 Gold	Coast	Fishing Boats
Silk	+2 Gold	Forest	Plantations
Silver	+2 Gold	Hill, Tundra and Desert	Mine
Spices	+2 Gold	Jungle	Plantation
Sugar	+2 Gold	Flood Plains and Marsh	Plantation
Whales	+1 Food, +1 Gold	Coast	Fishing Boats
Wine	+2 Gold	Grassland and Plains	Plantation
Citrus (G&K)	+1 Food, +1 Gold	Grassland and Plains	Plantation
Copper (G&K)	+2 Gold	Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra and Snow	Mine
Crab (G&K)	+1 Food, +1 Gold	Coast	Fishing Boats
Jewelry (G&K)	+2 Gold	Mercantile City-State	N/A
Porcelain (G&K)	+2 Gold	Mercantile City-States	N/A
Salt (G&K)	+1 Food, +1 Gold	Plains, Desert and Tundra	Mine
Truffles (G&K)	+2 Gold	Forest, Marsh, Jungle	Camp

Strategic Resources

Strategic Resources grant bonus yields when improved and can be traded similar to other resources, though they are primarily used for powerful military units. Strategic Resources are unique in that you need certain technologies to reveal them, such as Animal Husbandry for Horses. There is a cap with Strategic Resources depending on how many resources your empire has. Whenever you produce a unit or building that requires a Strategic Resource, one of that resource is consumed. If you run out of that particular resource, you can no longer produce any units that require it. If the units that use Strategic Resources become higher than the number of resources you have in your empire, such as if you obtained some of that resource from a trade that just ended, your units will be inflicted with a drastic combat penalty. Fortunately, you can regain Strategic Resources if a unit that requires it is eliminated. For example, if you used a Horse to produce a Knight and the Knight dies, you regain the Horse you used.

Resource	Bonus Yield	Revealed By	Found On	Improved With	Used For
Horses	+1 Production	Animal Husbandry	Grassland, Plains and Tundra	Pasture	Most mounted units
Iron	+1 Production	Iron Working	Hill, Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra and Snow	Mine	Certain melee and naval units
Coal	+1 Production	Scientific Theory/Industrialization (G&K)	Hill, Grassland and Plains	Mine	Certain Industrial Era units
Oil	+1 Production	Biology	Jungle, Marsh, Desert, Tundra, Snow and Coast	Oil Well and Offshore Platform	Some naval units
Aluminum	+1 Production	Electricity	Hill, Plains, Desert and Tundra	Mine	Some air units
Uranium	+1 Production	Atomic Theory	Jungle, Forest, Marsh, Hill, Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra and Snow	Mine	Most nuclear weapons