Tundra
“The ground is frozen for eight months of the year. The people who live here are harder than the land itself.”
Tundra represents the cold, windswept landscapes at the margins of the habitable world. Permafrost and short growing seasons limit agriculture to the most cold-hardy crops, producing minimal food and no production or gold. Tundra territory is generally undesirable, but sometimes geography leaves you no choice.
Yields
| Yield | Base Value |
|---|---|
| Food | 1 |
| Production | 0 |
| Gold | 0 |
Movement
| Movement Cost | 6 |
| Defence Bonus | None |
Valid Improvements
- Farm – +1 food (requires Agriculture)
- Road – Reduces movement cost to 2 (requires The Wheel)
Strategy
Tundra is slightly better than desert – its single point of food at least prevents starvation – but it remains among the weakest terrain types. Cities built on tundra grow slowly and produce little. Like desert, the primary virtue of tundra is often strategic: its remote location means you are less likely to face early military pressure, buying you time to develop in peace.
If you must settle tundra, farm every tile to squeeze out what food you can, and pray for hills nearby to provide production through mines. Tundra cities rarely become powerhouses, but they can serve as forward outposts, resource extraction points, or buffer territories protecting more valuable interior cities. In multiplayer games, experienced opponents may ignore your tundra cities entirely, judging them not worth the effort to conquer – which can be an advantage in itself.
Historical Background
The word “tundra” comes from the Sami language of northern Scandinavia, meaning “treeless plain.” True tundra exists in a band across the northernmost reaches of Eurasia and North America, characterised by permafrost, minimal vegetation, and extreme cold. Despite these brutal conditions, humans have inhabited tundra regions for tens of thousands of years. The indigenous peoples of Siberia, the Inuit of the Arctic, and the Sami of Scandinavia developed remarkable adaptations to their environment – from igloos and skin tents to reindeer herding and seal hunting. These cultures demonstrated that human ingenuity could find sustenance where the land itself seemed to offer nothing.