What if the very foundation of civilization-building in Civilization 6 was turned on its head? Imagine a world where the endless plains, rolling hills, and dense forests are no longer blank canvases for your builders to paint with farms, mines, and lumber mills. Picture a game where the only tiles you can improve are those blessed with a resource. This single, seismic shift would ripple through every aspect of gameplay, transforming Civilization 6 from a game of sprawling empires into a tense, strategic battle for survival and control over the planet’s scarce riches. This is not just a minor tweak; it’s a reimagining of the game’s core mechanics, and understanding its implications is the key to mastering this challenging new world.
The New Reality: A World of Scarcity
In this alternate reality, the vast majority of the map becomes unimprovable. Those endless grasslands that once promised a breadbasket of farms? Now, they are barren, offering only their base yields. The hills that were once the backbone of your production? Unless they are graced with iron, coal, or another resource, they are now just obstacles to be traversed. This fundamental change devalues land itself and elevates the importance of resources to an unprecedented level.
Analysis on forums shows that this would lead to a dramatic shift in player priorities. The mad dash for fertile river valleys would be replaced by a surgical strike towards clusters of resources. A single tile with a luxury resource and a few bonus resources nearby would be more valuable than a dozen empty tiles. This scarcity would also mean that every decision carries more weight. Wasting a builder charge on a sub-optimal improvement would be a catastrophic mistake. The game would become a knife-fight in a phone booth, where every inch of resource-rich territory is a potential flashpoint for conflict.
Early Game Survival: The Mad Dash for Resources
The early game in this scenario is not about expansion; it’s about survival. Your starting location is no longer just a matter of finding a good balance of food and production; it’s a life-or-death roll of the dice. A start with no nearby resources is a death sentence. The first 50 turns would be a frantic scramble to identify and secure resource-rich locations, not just for the resources themselves, but for the very possibility of improving a tile.
The Primacy of Starting Location
Many professional gamers suggest that a viable start in this world would require at least two or three resources within the initial city’s workable radius. Without this, your capital will stagnate, unable to grow or produce the settlers and military units needed to secure your future. The ideal start would be a cluster of different resource types: a food resource like wheat or rice to fuel population growth, a production resource like copper or stone to build your infrastructure, and a luxury resource to keep your citizens happy.
Rethinking Early Game Strategies
With farms and mines off the table for most tiles, players would need to find new ways to generate food and production. According to the player community, the focus would shift to a few key areas:
- Granaries and Water Mills: These buildings, often overlooked in the standard game, would become absolutely essential. A Granary’s +2 food and bonus food from certain resources would be a lifeline for a starving city. A Water Mill, if you’re lucky enough to have a city on a river, would provide a much-needed boost to both food and production.
- Fishing Boats: Coastal cities, often considered weaker in the early game, would suddenly become powerhouses. A string of coastal resources could provide a steady stream of food, allowing your coastal cities to grow and thrive while your landlocked neighbors struggle.
- Chopping and Harvesting: The “chop” would become king. Builders would be used not for long-term improvements, but for short-term bursts of production. Clearing a forest or a rainforest to rush out a wonder or a critical military unit would be a common and necessary tactic.
The Rise of the Resource-Focused Civilizations
In this new world, some civilizations would rise from the mid-tiers to become top contenders, while others would plummet. The player community’s analysis suggests a new power ranking:
- The God-Tiers: Civilizations with Resource Bonuses: Civilizations like the Cree, with their ability to gain bonus food from camps and pastures, or the Mayans, with their powerful observatory districts that don’t require adjacency to mountains, would have a massive advantage. Any civilization that can get more out of the few resources available will be a top contender.
- The Contenders: Civilizations with Strong Early Units: Civilizations like the Aztecs, with their Eagle Warriors, or Nubia, with their Pitati Archers, would be able to aggressively expand and secure resource-rich territories from their rivals. In a world where conflict over resources is inevitable, a strong early military is a powerful asset.
- The Strugglers: Civilizations Reliant on Tile Improvements: Civilizations like China, with their reliance on building wonders, or France, with their focus on building chateaus, would find themselves severely hampered. Their unique abilities would be difficult to leverage in a world where most tiles are unimprovable.
The Mid-Game Scramble: Conflict and Innovation
As the game transitions into the mid-game, the initial scramble for resources would evolve into a full-blown conflict. The map would be a patchwork of small, heavily fortified city-states, each clinging to a cluster of resources. Wars would be fought not for territory, but for a single tile with a crucial strategic resource.
The Inevitability of Conflict
A popular strategy is to identify the resource needs of your rivals and use that information to your advantage. If a neighbor is desperate for iron, and you have a secure source, you can use that as a bargaining chip in diplomacy or as a target in a future war. The mid-game would be a tense and bloody affair, with alliances shifting as quickly as the tides of war.
The Race for Key Technologies
The tech tree would also be re-evaluated. Technologies that unlock new ways to improve resources or that provide bonuses to resource yields would be a top priority. The race for technologies like Irrigation, which allows for the construction of plantations, or Bronze Working, which reveals iron, would be even more intense than in the standard game.
The Power of Trade
In this resource-scarce world, trade would be more important than ever. A single trade route could be the difference between a thriving city and a stagnant one. Internal trade routes would be used to funnel food and production from resource-rich cities to new, developing settlements. International trade routes would be a vital source of gold and a way to acquire luxury and strategic resources that you don’t have in your own territory.
Late-Game Divergence: Redefining Victory
The late-game in this scenario would be a fascinating and unpredictable affair. The path to victory would be radically different for each victory type, and players would need to adapt their strategies accordingly.
Science Victory: The Tall Man’s Game
A science victory would be a game of playing “tall.” With limited space for expansion, the focus would be on building a few, highly specialized cities with powerful campus districts. The key would be to secure a location with a high concentration of resources that can be improved to provide production, as the space race projects are incredibly production-heavy.
Culture Victory: The Art of the Steal
A culture victory would be a game of espionage and diplomacy. With limited tiles for building theater squares and wonders, the focus would be on acquiring great works of art and artifacts from other civilizations. Spies would be used to steal great works, and diplomats would be used to forge alliances and trade for the cultural treasures you need.
Domination Victory: The War of Attrition
A domination victory would be a brutal war of attrition. With limited production, building and maintaining a large army would be a challenge. The focus would be on using a small, technologically advanced army to pick off your rivals one by one. The key would be to secure a steady supply of strategic resources like oil and uranium to fuel your war machine.
Religious Victory: The Power of Faith
A religious victory would be a surprisingly viable option. With limited opportunities for generating science and culture, faith could become a powerful currency. A strong religious game could allow you to purchase military units, great people, and even districts, giving you a significant advantage over your rivals.
Diplomatic Victory: The Kingmaker
A diplomatic victory would be a game of playing the kingmaker. In a world of constant conflict, the ability to build alliances and influence city-states would be a powerful weapon. By carefully managing your diplomatic favor, you could become the deciding vote in the World Congress and lead your civilization to a peaceful victory.
Civilization Tier List Revisited: The New Power Rankings
As mentioned earlier, the power rankings of civilizations would be completely upended. Here’s a more detailed look at the new tier list, according to community analysis:
- S-Tier:
- Cree: Their ability to gain bonus food from camps and pastures and their unique trade route bonuses would make them an economic powerhouse.
- Mali: In a world where production is scarce, the ability to simply buy what you need with gold is incredibly powerful. Mali’s gold-generating abilities would be second to none.
- Maori: Their ability to start in the ocean and their bonuses to unimproved tiles would give them a massive head start. They could explore the world, find the best resource locations, and settle them before anyone else.
- A-Tier:
- Australia: Their bonus production after being targeted by a declaration of war would be a constant source of strength in a conflict-heavy world.
- Scythia: Their ability to produce two light cavalry units for the price of one would give them a powerful early-game military, perfect for securing resources.
- Gran Colombia: The extra movement for all units and the free Comandante General would make them a military juggernaut.
- B-Tier:
- Rome: Their free roads and monuments would help them to quickly connect their resource-rich cities and expand their borders.
- Japan: Their district adjacency bonuses would allow them to get the most out of their limited city space.
- Germany: Their extra district slot and powerful Hanseatic League building would make them a production powerhouse, if they can secure the necessary resources.
- C-Tier:
- Egypt: Their reliance on building on floodplains would be a major handicap in a world where most floodplains are unimprovable.
- Georgia: Their unique ability is tied to the protectorate war casus belli, which would be less common in a world of constant, direct conflict.
- Scotland: Their happiness-based bonuses would be difficult to maintain in a world where luxury resources are scarce and highly contested.
Unsung Heroes: The Rise of Specialists
In this new world, a number of game elements that are often overlooked would become critically important. These are the unsung heroes of the resource-scarce world.
Wonders of the World
Certain wonders would become top-priority, game-changing projects:
- Petra: In a desert-heavy game, Petra would be the single most powerful wonder, transforming a barren wasteland into a thriving metropolis.
- Huey Teocalli: For a civilization with access to a large lake, the Huey Teocalli would provide a massive boost to food and amenities.
- Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: The bonus science, culture, and faith on all coast tiles would make this a must-build for any coastal civilization.
Great People
Great People would be even more valuable than in the standard game. A single Great Person could provide a much-needed boost to your economy, your military, or your culture.
- Great Merchants: The ability to gain extra trade routes, generate gold, and even acquire free luxury resources would make Great Merchants a top priority.
- Great Engineers: The production bonuses from Great Engineers like James Watt or Nikola Tesla would be a game-changer.
- Great Scientists: In a world where science is harder to come by, the science boosts from Great Scientists like Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein would be invaluable.
Policy Cards
The right policy cards could be the difference between victory and defeat.
- Yield-Boosting Cards: Cards like “God King” for early faith and gold, or “Rationalism” and “Free Market” for late-game science and gold, would be essential.
- District Adjacency Cards: Cards like “Natural Philosophy” and “Five-Year Plan” would be critical for maximizing the output of your districts.
- Builder-Boosting Cards: The “Public Works” card, which gives builders extra charges, would be a powerful tool for quickly improving your limited resource tiles.
Conclusion
The “what if” scenario of only being able to build improvements on tiles with resources would fundamentally reshape the strategic landscape of Civilization 6. It would be a more challenging, more brutal, and ultimately, a more rewarding experience. The game would become a masterclass in resource management, strategic warfare, and diplomatic maneuvering. Every decision would matter, and only the most adaptable and ruthless leaders would survive. This is a world where the meek will not inherit the earth; they will be crushed by those who control the resources. The question is, in this new world, would you be the crusher or the crushed?