Civilization II · Terrain
Desert
0 food · move 1 · def +0%
Arid, but never worthless: a desert square already makes a shield, and an Oasis or an Oil deposit turns one into a tile worth building a city around.
What it does
Yields 1 shield and nothing else. Irrigation adds 1 food and mining adds 1 shield (5 turns each); a road adds 1 trade. Engineers can transform Desert into Plains.
Key details
- Yield
- 0 food, 1 shield, 0 trade
- Movement cost
- 1
- Defense bonus
- +0%
- Irrigation
- +1 food (5 turns)
- Mining
- +1 shield (5 turns)
- Transforms to
- Plains
- Special resources
- Oasis — 3/1/0 · Oil — 0/4/0
About terrain in Civilization II
Every land square is one of eleven terrain types, and a river can run across any of them. Each type has a yield in food, shields and trade, a movement cost and a defense multiplier. Settlers irrigate, mine and build roads; Engineers — unlocked by Explosives — go further and transform one terrain type into another entirely, which is how a swamp becomes farmland and a mountain becomes hills.
Strategy — A river is the best thing that can happen to a city site in Civilization II: +1 trade on the square, a 50% defense bonus, and the water access irrigation needs without a lake or coast nearby. After that, look for hills — a city built on one is mined and irrigated for free and doubles every defender standing in it.
