*This page last updated: 20 May, 2013 20:50 PST.

General Notes

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.