*This page last updated: 20 May, 2013 20:50 PST.
General Notes
- There are three different kinds of resources: Strategic, Bonus, and Luxury.
- Roads are no longer required to connect resources to cities. All that is required for access to a resource is for it to be within your borders and to have the appropriate improvement constructed in that tile.
- Strategic resources are now finite: units that require them deplete a global pool as they are built.
- Strategic resource nodes provide more than 1 point of the resource (in terms of number of units they can support).
- Strategic resource nodes come in different sized deposits, providing between 2 to 6 points or more (for later resources).
- Luxury resources provide +5 Happiness (to the whole empire). More than one deposit of the same resource has no additional benefit, but can be traded to other civilizations as in Civ IV.
- All luxury resources now provide some Gold when worked.
The list of Tile Improvements has been moved to its own page here.
Strategic Resources
Strategic resources are not visible at the start of the game: they require knowledge of a particular technology before they appear on a map. Horses, for example, do not appear until you have researched Animal Husbandry, and Iron doesn't show up until you learn Iron Working.
Strategic resources allow you to build certain units and buildings. When you construct an improvement on a strategic resource hex, it provides you a limited number of those resources, and these are allocated when you construct the associated units or buildings. You can trade strategic resources with other civilizations. The number of available strategic resources is displayed on the top bar of the main screen. Resources allocated to a unit are returned to the available pool if that unit is destroyed or disbanded.
Horses
Technology: Animal Husbandry; Improvement: Pasture
Bonus: +1 Hammer
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Tundra
Allows: Chariot Archer, Horseman, Knight, Lancer, Cavalry, Companion Cavalry,
Cossack, Sipahi, Camel Archer, Mandekalu Cavalry.
Notes: The number of horses seen in a pasture varies from 2 to 4, and this
number directly relates to how many resource points that resource
provides. We can see in the cursor-rollover tooltips that pastures with 2 horses
provide 2 points, and those with 4 horses provide 4 points.
Iron
Technology: Iron Working; Improvement: Mine
Bonus: +1 Hammer
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Snow or Hills
Allows: Ballista, Catapult, Mohawk Warrior, Swordsman, Longswordsman, Samurai,
Trebuchet, Frigate, Ship of the Line, Forge.
Notes: Like Horses, Iron occurs in deposits of different sizes, ranging from 2-6
points, and vary in visual size accordingly.
Coal
Technology: Scientific Theory; Improvement: Mine
Bonus: +1 Hammer
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Hills
Allows: Ironclad, Factory
Notes: Coal is useful mainly for building Factories.
Oil
Technology: Biology; Improvement: Oil Well or Offshore Platform
Bonus: +1 Hammer
Found on: Marsh, Jungle, Desert, Tundra, Snow, Ocean
Allows: Destroyer, Tank, Fighter, Battleship, Submarine, Carrier, Panzer, Zero, B-17,
Bomber
Aluminum
Technology: Electricity; Improvement: Mine
Bonus: +1 Hammer
Found on: Plain, Desert, Tundra, Hills
Allows: Jet Fighter, Rocket Artillery, Modern Armor, Helicopter Gunship, Missile
Cruiser, Mobile SAM, Hydro
Plant, Spaceship Factory
Uranium
Technology: Atomic Theory; Improvement: Mine
Bonus: +1 Hammer
Found on: Forest, Jungle, Marsh, Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Snow, Hills
Allows: Atomic Bomb, Nuclear Missile, Nuclear Plant, Giant Death Robot
Bonus Resources
Bonus resources increase the food and gold output of a hex. Bonus resources cannot be traded to other civilizations.
Banana
Bonus: +1 Food
Improvement: Plantation
Found on: Jungle
Cattle
Bonus: +1 Food
Improvement: Pasture
Found on: Grassland
Deer
Bonus: +1 Food
Improvement: Camp
Found on: Forest, Tundra, Hill
Fish
Bonus: +2 Food
Improvement: fishing boats
Found on: Coast
Sheep
Food: +1
Improvement: Pasture
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Hill
Wheat
Food: +1
Improvement: Farm
Found on: Plains, Flood Plains
Stone
Production: +1
Improvement: Quarry
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Snow, Hills.
Notes: Added post-released in a patch.
Luxury Resources
Luxury resources increase your civilization's happiness and provide a small bonus to the hex's output. Only one source of a specific luxury resource provides a happiness bonus. Multiple sources of the same resource do not further increase a civilization's happiness (however, they're still valuable since they can be traded to other civilizations). You do get increased happiness bonuses for each different type of luxury resource you possess.
"We Love the King Day"
Periodically, a city may request that you acquire a specific luxury resource. If you do so, the city will go into the "We Love the King Day" celebration for 20 turns, during which the city's growth rate will be increased by 25%. When the 20 turns are over, the city will demand another luxury resource.
Cotton
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Grasslands, Plains, Desert
Dye
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Jungle, Forest
Gems
Improvement: Mine
+3 Gold
Found on: Jungle, Grasslands, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Hills
Gold
Improvement: Mine
+2 Gold
Found on: Grasslands, Plains, Desert, Hills
Furs
Improvement: Camp
+2 Gold
Found on: Forest or Tundra
Notes: Fur appears to be foxes this time instead of beavers.
The foxes frolic playfully... it almost makes one sad that they are going to be
made into coats.
Incense
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Desert, Plains
Ivory
Improvement: Camp
+2 Gold
Found on: Plains
Marble
Improvement: Quarry
+2 Gold
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Hills
Pearls
Improvement: Fishing boats
+2 Gold
Found on: Coast
Notes: As elephants are referred to as Ivory, so clams appear to be referred to
as Pearls.
Silk
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Forest
Silver
Improvement: Mine
+2 Gold
Found on: Tundra, Desert, Hills
Spices
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Jungle
Sugar
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Flood Plains, Marsh
Notes: Sugar appears to grow in marshland, which apparently must be drained
before a Plantation can be built on it.
Whales
Improvement: Fishing boats
+1 Gold, +1 Food
Found on: Coast
Wine
Improvement: Plantation
+2 Gold
Found on: Grassland, Plains
Notes: The dedicated Winery improvement from Civ IV is gone, and now Wine uses
the regular plantation improvement.
Truffles
Improved by: Hunting Camp
Bonus: +2 Gold
Found on: Forest, Marsh, Jungle
Crab
Improved by: Fishing Boats
Bonus: +1 Food, +1 Gold
Found on: Coast
Notes: The "net" cast from the Fishing
Boats is a box-shaped crab pot instead. Crab is a tradable luxury resource.
Citrus
Improved by: Plantation
Bonus: +1 Food, +1 Gold
Found on: Grassland, Plains
Notes: Citrus is a tradable luxury resource.
Salt
Improved by: Mine
Bonus: +1 Food, +1 Gold
Found on: Plains, Desert, Tundra
Notes: A tradable luxury resource.
Copper
Improved by: Mine
Bonus: +2 Gold
Found on: Grassland, Plains, Desert, Tundra, Snow
Notes: Copper is a luxury resource.
Porcelain
Yield: +2 Gold
Notes: A manufactured luxury resource unique to Mercantile City-States. This
resource is not located on the map, but is awarded by the City-State to its ally
civilization. It does appear that conquering a Mercantile City-State also give
you access to the resource; in
this
screen the Dutch player has annexed Marrakech, but the Porcelain shows in
the tooltip for city tile, and in the Happiness menu, the player is receiving a
Happiness bonus for Porcelain.
Jewelry
Yield: +2 Gold
A manufactured luxury resource unique to Mercantile City-States; it is produced
by the city-state rather than found on the map, similar to Porcelain.
Tulips: Several early previews claimed that Tulips are a manufactured luxury resource created by the Netherlands Polder unique improvement. However, this has not been verified via in-game screenshot; the portion of the Polder Civilopedia entry we've seen does not mention Tulips, and the list of font icons obtained through the beta patch does not contain a resource icon for Tulips, so it seems likely that either these previews were in error, or Tulips have since been removed.