*This page last updated: 20 May, 2013 20:54 PST.

General Notes

Tile Improvements

Ancient Ruins

Notes: These are the new version of the old Minor Tribes or "Goody Huts" that give bonuses for discovery in the early game. The goody options are all positive, and never negative:

Encampment

Familiar to any veteran of the series, barbarians are back, and similar to Civ III, they spawn from camps that can be destroyed for a cash reward. As before, camps can appear in any area that is not under the sight of any civilization. Barbarians in Civ V will not found cities, and will raze any city they capture. If barbarians capture Workers or Settlers, they will bring them back to the Encampment where they can be recaptured. Encampments on the coast can produce naval units.

Farm

Technology: Agriculture
Yield: +1 Food
Duration of Construction: 6 turns
Improves: Wheat. Can be built on: Grassland, Plains, Desert
Notes: It appears that Farms can now be built even where there is no access to fresh water. However, the Civil Service technology gives an additional +1 Food bonus to farms that are adjacent to lakes or rivers. Farms can be built on Hills if that hill is adjacent to a river.

Roads

Technology: The Wheel
Duration of Construction: 3 turns
Notes: Increases movement speed of units, and connecting a city via roads to the Capital establishes a "Trade Route." Each tile of road that you construct requires maintenance of 1 gold per turn. Units do no benefit from roads or railroads in enemy territory, as in Civ IV. Roads can be removed by a Worker; this action takes 2 turns.

Railroads

Technology: Railroad
Notes: Greater speed increase for units. Connecting a city via railroads to the Capital proves a production bonus. Each tile of railroad requires maintenance of 2 gold per tile. Railroads replace roads, and also provide the functionality of roads (as in connecting a Trade Route).

Fishing Boats

Technology: Sailing
Yield: none
Improves: Fish, Whales, Pearls

Camp

Technology: Trapping
Yield: none
Duration of Construction: 6 turns
Improves: Ivory, Furs, Deer

Mine

Technology: Mining
Yield: +1 Hammer
Duration of Construction: 6 turns
Can be built on: Hills
Improves: Iron, Gold, Silver, Gems, Coal, Uranium, Aluminum
Notes: Mines can be built on any mine-able resource, or on Hills terrain to increase Production.

Pasture

Technology: Animal Husbandry
Yield: none
Duration of Construction: 7 turns
Improves: Cattle, Horse, Sheep

Trading Post

Technology: Guilds
Yield: +1 to +2 Gold
Duration of Construction: 8 turns
Can be built on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra
Notes: Gods & Kings provided a new graphic for the Trading Post, and it is now available with Guilds (a new Medieval era technology) instead of Trapping.

Plantation

Technology: Calendar
Yield: none
Duration of Construction: 5 turns
Improves: Bananas, Dye, Silk, Spices, Sugar, Cotton, Wine, Incense 

Quarry

Technology: Masonry
Yield: none
Duration of Construction: 7 turns
Improves: Marble, Stone

Fort

Technology: Engineering
Can be built on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Snow
Notes: +50% defense.

Lumber Mill

Technology: Engineering
Can be built on: Forest
Yield: +1 Hammer
Duration of Construction: 6 turns

Oil Well

Technology: Biology
Yield: none
Duration of Construction: 8 turns
Improves: Oil

Offshore Platform

Technology: Refrigeration
Yield: none
Improves: Oil
Notes: Created by Work Boats on a marine Oil resource.

Citadel

+100% Defensive Strength for any Unit stationed in this Tile. Any enemy unit which ends its turn next to the Citadel takes 3 damage. 
Notes: Special Fort-like improvement created by a Great General.

Academy

Yield: +5 science
Can be built on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Snow
Notes: The Academy is now a tile improvement, rather than a city building. It can be created by sacrificing a Great Person. The icon is an abacus.

Landmark

Yield: +4 Culture
Notes: Special improvement created by a Great Artist.

Manufactory

Yield: +3 Production
Notes: Special improvement created by Great Engineer.

Customs House

Yield: +4 Gold
Notes: Gold-boosting improvement built by sacrificing a Great Merchant.

Moai

Technology: Construction
Yield: +1 Culture, plus one for each adjacent Moai. +1 Gold after the research of Flight technology.
Notes: Unique Improvement for Polynesia. May only be built on the coast. Adds culture. Provides +10% Combat Strength bonus to friendly units within 2 tiles.

Terrace Farm

Technology: Construction
Yield: +1 Food, and an additional +1 Food for each adjacent Mountain tile.
Notes: Unique Improvement for the Incas. May only be built on Hills. "Terrace Farming developed in mountainous areas simultaneously around the world, including Bali, the Philippines, Chine and Peru. These skinny, stepped fields are cut into hill and mountain sides, preventing the run off of irrigation water and providing space for arable land, usually where none was previously possible. The Incas in particular were masters of terrace farming, and erected large, drystone walls to hold their terraces in place. After building the terrace's shape, the Incas then constructed systems of canals and aqueducts to provide the terraces with constant water, increasing the land's fertility. The ancient Incan's terracing techniques were so successful that modern Peruvian farmers still employ them in their farms today."

Motte and Bailey

Technology: Engineering
Yield: +100% Defense
Notes: Unique Improvement for the Normans in the 1066 scenario in the Viking DLC. Can be constructed by a Norman Swordsman in the same time it takes a Worker to construct a Fort. Any unit stationed within a Motte and Bailey receives a 100% defensive strength bonus. Additionally, any enemy unit which ends its turn next to a Motte and Bailey takes 3 damage. (This is the same benefit as a Citadel.)

Polder

Yield: +3 Food
Technology: Guilds
Built on: Marsh, Floodplains
Notes: A unique improvement for the Netherlands. It increases food production in Marsh or Floodplain tiles. Polders do not produce Tulips, as erroneously claimed in a few foreign previews. A "polder" is an agricultural area of land reclaimed from marsh, lakebed or the sea, surrounded by dikes (and a windmill to pump the water out as it seeps back in).

Holy Site

Yield: +6 Faith.
Notes: An improvement created by a Great Prophet. It adds +6 Faith production to the tile. This yield can be improved with Piety social policies.