Plains

“An ocean of grass, stretching to the horizon in every direction. Here, anything can be built.”

Plains are the most common and versatile terrain type, offering a balanced mix of food and production. Neither lush nor barren, these flat expanses of grassland and scrub support both agriculture and industry, making them the backbone of most empires.

Yields

Movement

Valid Improvements

• Farm – +1 food (requires Agriculture)
• Road – Reduces movement cost to 2 (requires The Wheel)

Strategy

Plains are the workhorse terrain of any empire. Their balanced yields make them adequate for nearly any purpose – not exceptional at anything, but never a liability. A city surrounded by plains will grow steadily and produce units at a reasonable pace, though it will lag behind a grassland city in food and may need mines on nearby hills to boost production.

When developing plains tiles, the key decision is whether to farm or leave them unimproved. Early in the game, farming plains tiles provides the food needed to grow your city’s population. Later, once population is established, the base production from plains becomes valuable for building units and structures. Roads through plains territory are essential for connecting cities and enabling rapid troop movement.

Historical Background

Temperate grasslands and plains cover vast stretches of every inhabited continent – the Great Plains of North America, the Eurasian Steppe, the Pampas of South America, and the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. These regions have historically supported both pastoral nomadism and settled agriculture, depending on rainfall and soil quality. The rich, deep soils of plains regions, built up over millennia by decomposing grasses, proved extraordinarily fertile once the plough was invented, transforming places like the American Midwest and the Ukrainian steppe into the breadbaskets of the modern world.