Navigating the Deluge: Understanding Floods in Civilization 6
Flooding in Civilization 6, especially with the Gathering Storm expansion, is more than just an aesthetic inconvenience. It’s a dynamic game mechanic that can significantly impact your empire’s growth and stability. When a city floods, you can expect damage or complete destruction of districts, improvements, and units situated on the floodplains tiles adjacent to the river. This can also extend to the City Center itself, leading to loss of hit points (HP) and defenses, effectively weakening your city and making it more vulnerable to attack. The population can be lost. Here’s a deeper dive into how flooding works, its consequences, and how you can mitigate its devastating effects.
The Anatomy of a Flood
Floods primarily affect tiles designated as floodplains located near rivers. These areas, while initially fertile for farming, become high-risk zones as the game progresses and climate change intensifies. The effects of a flood are determined by factors like disaster intensity, which is set at the beginning of the game. The more intense the disaster, the greater the devastation.
Immediate Consequences:
- District and Improvement Damage/Destruction: The most immediate and visible impact is the damage inflicted upon districts and improvements built on floodplains. Key infrastructure, such as Campuses, Industrial Zones, and even Wonders, can be rendered useless or completely destroyed. This forces you to divert valuable production towards repairs, delaying other vital projects.
- Unit Casualties: Any military or civilian units stationed on flooded tiles are at risk of taking damage or being completely destroyed. This can cripple your defenses or hinder your exploration efforts.
- City Center Damage: If the City Center itself is located on a floodplain or adjacent to a flooded tile, it can suffer damage, reducing its HP and weakening its defenses. This makes the city more vulnerable to attack and harder to defend.
- Population Loss: The city can lose some of its population.
Long-Term Implications:
- Economic Setbacks: The destruction of key districts and improvements can severely impact your city’s economic output. This can ripple through your entire empire, affecting your ability to fund military, research, and cultural endeavors.
- Growth Stunted: Floods can hinder a city’s growth potential by damaging or destroying farms and other food-producing improvements. This can lead to food shortages and slow down population growth.
- Strategic Disadvantage: The loss of strategic resources located on floodplains can weaken your military or hinder your industrial development. The destruction of vital infrastructure can also disrupt trade routes and communication lines.
- Increased Grievances: Citizens will be unhappy about the destructions.
Mastering Flood Control: Dams and Beyond
While the threat of floods is significant, Civilization 6 offers several strategies to mitigate their impact and even turn them to your advantage.
Dams: The Ultimate Flood Defense
The Dam district is the most effective way to prevent floods along an entire river. By constructing a Dam, you can completely eliminate the risk of flooding in all tiles along the river’s course within the Dam’s city limits. Dams require strategic placement. They must be built on a Floodplains tile, and the river must traverse at least two adjacent sides of the future Dam tile.
Flood Barriers: Coastal Resilience
For coastal cities facing the threat of rising sea levels, Flood Barriers are crucial. These city projects can be built once you reach a certain technology level and provide protection against coastal flooding. You can only build them in cities with Coastal Lowland tiles. They safeguard your low-lying coastal districts and improvements from being submerged.
Great Bath: An Early Warning System
The Great Bath, an Ancient Era Wonder, provides early flood protection but with a caveat: it must be built on a Floodplains tile. It provides a significant amount of Faith and Great Scientist points from floods, effectively turning a potential disaster into an opportunity. However, it only protects the city in which it is built.
Strategic City Placement: Location, Location, Location
Careful city placement is essential for minimizing flood risk. Avoid settling directly on floodplains if possible. When you have to settle on them due to resources, prioritize areas with natural barriers or potential Dam locations.
Climate Change Mitigation: A Global Effort
Addressing climate change through policy cards and diplomatic actions can significantly reduce the frequency and intensity of floods. Reducing your carbon footprint and promoting green energy sources can help slow down the rate of sea-level rise and reduce the occurrence of extreme weather events.
Floodplain Farming
Similar to other types of Floodplains, Plains Floodplains tiles can support districts but block placements of all tile improvements except for Farms and unique improvements that explicitly say they can be built on Floodplains.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can cities flood in Civ 6?
Yes, cities can flood in Civilization 6, particularly those located on or near floodplains adjacent to rivers and coastal lowlands. River floods damage or destroy districts, improvements, and units on the Floodplains tiles near the River. This may also include a City Center, in which case it loses some HP and Defenses (if it has them).
2. What happens when a tile becomes submerged in Civ 6?
Once a coastal lowland tile becomes submerged due to rising sea levels, it is permanently lost and cannot be recovered. Any districts, improvements, or resources on that tile are destroyed.
3. Can you unflood a tile in Civ 6?
If a city constructs a Flood Barrier or Dam after some of its tiles have been flooded, those tiles can be repaired in full and used again, along with anything that’s on them. But tiles submerged due to rising sea levels are lost forever and cannot be recovered.
4. Why can’t I build a Dam in Civ 6?
You cannot build a Dam if the proposed location is not on a Floodplains tile or if the River doesn’t traverse at least 2 adjacent sides of the future Dam tile. Make sure your selected tile meets these requirements.
5. What are the requirements for a Flood Barrier in Civ 6?
Flood Barriers must be built in a city with one or more Coastal Lowland tiles. Also, they cannot be purchased with Gold.
6. Does the Great Bath stop flooding in Civ 6?
Yes, the Great Bath wonder stops flooding in the city in which it’s built. It provides immunity to flood damage and yields bonus Faith and Great Scientist points when floods occur elsewhere. Remember, it must be built on a Floodplains tile.
7. How does coastal flooding work in Civ 6?
Coastal flooding starts occurring as climate change progresses. It initially affects the lowest-lying (1-meter) tiles, then the 2-meter tiles, and finally the 3-meter ones. As climate change worsens, coastal lowlands eventually become submerged.
8. Can you build on Floodplains in Civ 6?
Yes, you can build districts on Floodplains. You can also build Farms. However, the placement of other improvements is generally blocked unless the improvement specifically states that it can be built on Floodplains.
9. What happens if you nuke a city in Civ 6?
Nukes are the most powerful weapons in the game. They instantly defeat any military units caught within the blast radius and set the health and walls of a city to zero. The city will likely be severely damaged and experience significant population loss.
10. How bad is flooding in Civ 6?
Flooding can be quite detrimental. River floods damage or destroy districts, improvements, and units on the Floodplains tiles near the River. This may also include a City Center, in which case it loses some HP and Defenses. Coastal flooding can submerge tiles permanently, resulting in a total loss of the tile and anything built upon it.
11. Why can’t I build a Flood Barrier in this city?
Allowing a City Center to flood or purposefully settling on a flooded tile will prevent the construction or repair of any City Center building, including Flood Barriers.
12. How often do volcanoes erupt in Civ 6?
The frequency of volcano eruptions depends on the Disaster Intensity setting chosen at the start of the game. Higher disaster levels increase the percentage of active volcanoes.
13. Can you prevent droughts in Civ 6?
Yes, vegetation (Woods, Rainforest, Marsh) can prevent Drought occurrence altogether. Also, having an Aqueduct, Bath or a Dam in the nearby city will protect all city tiles from food loss.
14. Is it bad to have too many cities in Civ 6?
It is not really possible to have too many cities in Civilization 6, and players should continue to establish them freely for as long as they like.
15. What is the best tile to settle on in Civ 6?
Plains (Hills) are the absolute best terrain on which to place a city in Civilization 6 because they yield one more Production than any other terrain in the game when settled.
Understanding and adapting to the challenges posed by floods in Civilization 6 is crucial for long-term success. By employing strategic city planning, constructing appropriate infrastructure, and actively working to mitigate climate change, you can protect your empire from the devastating effects of these natural disasters and build a resilient and prosperous civilization.
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