GAME CONCEPTS

Units and Orders

Units are built in cities, move about the map in stacks and carry out orders. Each has movement points, vision, combat stats and its own special orders; every unit's page lists them. Fighting is covered on Battle System.

Movement

  • A unit has a number of movement pointsMovement each turn, and each tile it enters costs that terrain's movement cost. Units move as soon as they are ordered and carry on along a long path turn after turn.
  • Stepping onto a tile with a finished road costs 0.375 movement points, wherever the step comes from and whatever the terrain under the road (a mountain pass still pays a share of the mountain), and stepping off a road onto any tile costs no more than that either (except into a mountain pass). A bridge costs the same as a road. Inside the borders of a civ you are at war with, roads give your units nothing. A land unit can also walk across one of your own transports with room for it, for the same cost, as long as it reaches the far side that turn. Road movement improves by +10% with Civil Engineering, +10% with Mapmaking and +30% with Railroad. A land unit crosses a river only over a bridge; ships can sail along rivers.
  • Mountains cannot be entered, except where a finished road crosses one: that is a mountain pass. Any civilization's land units may use it, entering it ends their move, and units defending on it get the mountain's defensive bonus. A city cannot be founded on a mountain.
  • A tile holding an enemy unit or city cannot be entered except to attack it. Units of civilizations at peace may share a tile.
  • Your units may cross another civilization's borders only with Open Borders, or at war with it. See Treaties and Trade Deals.
  • A path through unexplored land assumes every unknown tile costs 1 and corrects itself as the land is revealed.

Movement cost by terrain

Stacks

  • Units on one tile form a stack of up to 9. Land units and ships never share a stack.
  • A stack moves as one when you order it; select individual units to send part of it elsewhere. In a battle every unit on the tile fights, whichever stack it is in.

Vision and fog

  • Each unit reveals the tiles within its vision range. Standing on hills or a mountain adds 1 to how far it sees; forests block line of sight across level ground.
  • A tile you have revealed stays on the map as you last saw it. Units and cities there may have moved on since.
  • Improvements with vision of their own (watchtowers) keep an eye on their surroundings for you.

Upkeep

  • Each unit costs its maintenance in Gold every turn (most units 0.5. See the unit's page). Your government maintains a number of units for free, the most expensive ones first.
  • If your treasury stays negative for 5 turns, up to 5 units a turn are disbanded, dearest first, until income is positive again.
  • A unit heals only after a turn without moving: 10% of its hitpoints, 20% in one of its own cities, 3% in enemy land.

Upgrading

  • A unit whose type has an upgrade (its page says) can be upgraded for gold: 20Gold plus 3 for every point of production the new unit costs over the old one.
  • The unit must be standing in one of your cities that could build the new type itself, including any trade good it needs. Upgrading uses up its movement for the turn.
  • Once the better unit is unlocked the old one leaves the build list, and anything still queued switches to the new type.

Ships and cargo

  • Ships are built in cities on the coast; hulls that can sail rivers can also be built in a river city. A ship may enter your own coastal cities.
  • To board a transport, order a land stack onto the tile of a friendly ship with room; as many units as fit climb aboard. To land, order the laden ship onto a land tile.
  • Units aboard a ship do not fight, and go down with it. Ships cannot garrison or defend a city, and any ship in a city that falls is lost.

Orders

  • AutoExplore: explores unrevealed territory on its own each turn, then patrols until given another order. (every unit)
  • Bombard: bombards an adjacent enemy city, knocking 25% to 30% off its defensive bonus and wounding every unit inside for 15% of its health; the bonus regrows 5% of the full bonus a turn after 5 quiet turns. The bombard is the unit's fight for the turn: it cannot fire on a turn it has moved or attacked, and cannot attack after firing.
  • Bombard: bombards an adjacent enemy city, knocking 15% to 20% off its defensive bonus and wounding every unit inside for 10% of its health; the bonus regrows 5% of the full bonus a turn after 5 quiet turns. The bombard is the unit's fight for the turn: it cannot fire on a turn it has moved or attacked, and cannot attack after firing.
  • Bombard: bombards an adjacent enemy city, knocking 20% to 25% off its defensive bonus and wounding every unit inside for 12.5% of its health; the bonus regrows 5% of the full bonus a turn after 5 quiet turns. The bombard is the unit's fight for the turn: it cannot fire on a turn it has moved or attacked, and cannot attack after firing.
  • Bombard: bombards an adjacent enemy city, knocking 20% to 25% off its defensive bonus and wounding every unit inside for 12.5% of its health; the bonus regrows 5% of the full bonus a turn after 5 quiet turns. The bombard is the unit's fight for the turn: it cannot fire on a turn it has moved or attacked, and cannot attack after firing.
  • CargoLarge: carries up to 9 land units across water.
  • CargoSmall: carries up to 3 land units across water.
  • CargoTiny: carries up to 2 land units across water.
  • Disband: disbands the unit, ending its maintenance. (every unit)
  • Fortify: digs in: +10% defensive bonus for every unit on the tile. (every unit)
  • FoundCity: Founds a new city on its tile (the unit is consumed). Cities must be at least 3 tiles apart..
  • Gift Units: inside the borders of a civilization you have Open Borders with, gives the stack to it for good (fresh units, no moves left that turn). (every unit)
  • Pillage: destroys an enemy improvement on the unit's tile, then its road with a second pillage. (every unit)
  • Pirate: cuts enemy trade routes crossing the unit's tile for 25Gold plus 2.5 per tile of route. (every unit)
  • Put Down Uprising: Put Down Uprising. (every unit)
  • Skip Turn: Skip Turn. (every unit)
  • Spread Buddhism: spreads Buddhism to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Spread Christianity: spreads Christianity to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Spread Confucianism: spreads Confucianism to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Spread Hinduism: spreads Hinduism to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Spread Islam: spreads Islam to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Spread Judaism: spreads Judaism to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Spread Taoism: spreads Taoism to the city it stands in (the missionary is consumed).
  • Upgrade: pays gold to become one of its upgrade types. (every unit)