Hills
“High ground wins battles. Every general knows it. Every soldier feels it in their legs.”
Hills are a terrain feature that can appear on top of any base land terrain – plains, grassland, desert, or tundra. They add elevation and rocky outcrops to the landscape, doubling movement cost and providing a significant defensive bonus. Most importantly, hills are the primary location for mines, making them essential for production-focused cities.
Yields
Hills do not replace the base terrain’s yields. Instead, they modify the tile’s properties:
| Modifier | Value |
|---|---|
| Food | – (base terrain unchanged) |
| Production | – (base terrain unchanged) |
| Gold | – (base terrain unchanged) |
Movement
| Movement Cost | 12 (double normal) |
| Defence Bonus | +25% |
Valid Improvements
- Mine – +1 production (requires Mining)
- Farm – +1 food (requires Agriculture)
- Road – Reduces movement cost to 2 (requires The Wheel)
- Quarry – (requires Masonry, on applicable hills)
Strategy
Hills are among the most valuable terrain features in the game, serving dual roles as production centres and defensive strongpoints. A city with several hills in its working radius can build mines to achieve formidable production output, churning out military units and buildings far faster than cities reliant on flat terrain alone.
The +25% defence bonus makes hills excellent positions for defending armies. A fortified unit on a hill is extremely difficult to dislodge, and hills combined with other defensive terrain – a forested hill, for example – can stack bonuses to create nearly impregnable positions. When fighting defensively, always seek to place your units on hills if possible.
The doubled movement cost of hills is a meaningful drawback. Armies moving through hilly terrain are significantly slower, which can be critical during time-sensitive military operations. Roads through hills are especially valuable, cutting movement cost from 12 to just 2. When developing hilly territory, prioritise road construction to maintain military mobility.
When deciding between farming and mining a hill tile, consider your city’s current needs. Early game, when population growth is paramount, farming hills for food may be wise. Later, as population stabilises, converting hill farms to mines dramatically boosts production. The ideal city has a mix of flat farmland for food and hills with mines for production.
Historical Background
Elevated terrain has been prized for settlement and defence since the dawn of civilisation. The Greek acropolis – literally “high city” – placed temples, treasuries, and last-resort fortifications atop rocky hills overlooking the urban centre below. Roman military doctrine emphasised seizing high ground before battle, a principle that remained central to military strategy for millennia. Medieval castles were overwhelmingly built on hilltops and ridgelines, exploiting the natural defensive advantage of elevation.
The economic value of hills lies in their geology. Exposed rock and mineral-bearing strata are far more accessible in hilly and mountainous terrain than on flat plains, making hills the natural location for mining operations throughout history. The silver mines of Laurion funded the Athenian navy, the tin mines of Cornwall supplied the Bronze Age, and the gold and iron deposits found in hilly terrain across every continent drove exploration, settlement, and conflict.