While Civilization VI offers players a variety of methods in order to succeed, one of the best ways to do so is through improvements. Through Builders and their improvements to your empire, you’ll be able to build new resources and powerful infrastructure. For the most part, builders can be a relatively straightforward experience with hidden layers of unique complexity. One of the most impactful methods of production can come in the form of clearing forests or other natural tiles. The most impressive aspect of builders is their ability to make an empire thrive through natural construction.
Most improvements come from a player’s technological and cultural advancement. For this reason, make sure that both are well rounded as builders lose effectiveness the less technology you’ve researched. An empire that holds high regard for its people can make huge leaps through simple builders. In doing so, we have the ability to improve every victory path through research and civic growth. These builders can be made even more powerful with civics and government types that help create a more potent workforce.
Looking for more Civilization VI content, or even more great guides on Civilization VI at KeenGamer?
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Limitations
Builders are one of the most vulnerable units that exist in Civilization VI. In that respect, they have the key weakness of being captured by military units that attack them. One of the other very potent weaknesses of a builder is their charges. After a certain amount of uses, three without bonuses, a builder will be destroyed. For this reason, there is a third weakness in the form of constantly needing to create more of them. While there are several methods of making builders more effective, they never last forever. As long as they are not protected by military forces, they are at risk of being attacked. Last but not least is that you can use them to scout your empire in order to grow it. Consequently, they are considered to be a domestic product and cannot be shipped long distances because of this.
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Protections and Safety
The builders are one of the easiest units to capture in Civilization VI, so they must be protected at all costs. As a result, attaching builders to military units is a great way to keep them safe from harm. Keep your builders within the borders of your own country if you are not able to do that. It is possible to keep these builders inside cities and defensive structures in case an emergency arises. Try to never send these builders long-term as enemies have an easier time taking them the father you are from home.
Acquiring Builders
When trying to obtain builders you have three major methods. The first is to simply produce them with city projects, great for the early game and if nothing is required at the moment. Secondly, a player can go about spending gold or faith depending on their bonuses to purchase builders. The third method is to look for tribal villages and gain them by chance. All three of these efforts have high yields through tribal villages become harder to find over time! Choosing how to acquire them can be a strategic affair as you will always need builders, city projects or not.
City Projects
When deciding whether or not you should construct a builder via city projects consider three factors. Firstly, are you needing to exploit a certain resource or tile quickly? Do you have time to spend building these units versus in a district? Is your military in a place where it can operate with reinforcements for the building period? Each of these is fundamentally important because this city will be busy for the duration of builder construction. Sometimes this can be a necessary requirement such as when you’re starting out or have full districts. Other times, however, you may be brought to a point where builders are a hassle to build rather than simply purchasing them.
Improvement diversity
Gold and Faith
One of the quickest methods of acquiring Builders comes from spending gold or faith points. Gold can be one of the easiest resources to either have too much of or too little. For that reason, you should always look at the production of economic capital capable of your empire. Never buy a builder if you are losing money, similarly never focus on builders if your military is in the midst of a war. Prior to using faith points, make sure that your religion is self-sufficient and that all religious buildings have been built. In certain golden age boosts, faith points should be considered over gold if they are available.
Tribal Villages
One of the earliest methods of acquiring Builders and other units quickly is by acquiring tribal villages. These small treasure chests will appear randomly on Civilization VI maps and grant everything from technology to units. Sometimes these tribal villages will grant builders in the process. These builders will be sent to one of your cities and allow you to use them as necessary. Unfortunately, these builders often don’t share the bonuses that your built or purchased builders do. This can be owed to the fact they are free units rather than purchased, excusing these issues.
Conquering
One of the main methods of acquiring Builders with relatively little cost is to steal them from enemy forces. Barbarians and hostile city-states will produce builders that your forces can easily press in and take. Unfortunately, these builders will lack the bonuses and advantages your nation gives constructed ones similar to that of tribal villages. Using these stolen builders can allow your empire to thrive at the cost of another’s downfall. For this reason try to limit this to nations you are at war with, as stealing builders will surely start one.
Builder charges
Action Economy
There are several actions that builders use to make the world of Civilization VI more advanced. Some of these actions include building improvements, as well as repairing and removing them. Additionally, builders are able to harvest and remove features as well as plant wood and clear nuclear fallout. Each of these effects is quite potent and depends heavily on the civics and scientific research your empire holds. These can be used three times per builder without bonuses, but inspire the player to invest heavily into them!
Improvements
One of the main features of builders is their interaction with tile improvements. These interactions come in three ways, building, repairing, and removing features. Each can be done as a single building charge and allows for a diverse landscape to come from imperial tiles. Building tile improvements allows for the exploitation of land acquired by your empire. Repairing these improvements is vital after military attacks and sieges, requiring the player to recover the land via builders. Finally removing improvements allows for a player to alternate a strategy of a city, or modernize it. Each of these is ideal for protecting your empire’s assets and prosperity!
Harvesting Environments
One of the most potent effects available for Civilization VI players is to harvest natural tiles. Forests and resources can be quickly removed for a resource value directly related to your production speed. When trying to build wonders or buildings quickly, a builder can essentially deforest an area to speed the process along. This can be beneficial due to the fact that some constructions are a race against time. Harvesting resources allows for a small amount of that resource to go to the inventory versus a resource over time. For this reason, it’s important to only do this to resources you don’t value! When harvesting resources, try to remember that there are options for repairing the destruction you cause in the form of planting forests.
Well rounded improvements
Planting Forests
To circumvent the overall ecological devastation created by deforestation is the ability to plant forests. These forests are able to replace the natural destruction of forests, marshes, and rainforests in the name of quick wonders. Not only will these forests protect your nation by bogging down enemy forces, but helps your diplomatic favor. Other nations will appreciate the fact that you are dedicating builders to these forests. It should be noted that this action should be considered only when there’s nothing else for a builder to be doing. Keeping these forests around can provide defensive and political bonuses, but also shield you from weather effects. Large forests can negate hurricanes as well as devastating floods, making them vital during harsh world games!
Nuclear Cleaning
The most vital means of protecting your cities from nuclear waste, is builders are able to clean up nuclear fallout after it impacts a city. This can be done as early as a nation has access to the technology, and is necessary to protect it from long-term damage. As soon as nuclear waste impacts a nation, it will lose most of its bonuses and slowly kill the population. Builders alone act as a method of resolving this and can turn a nightmarish situation into a lifesaver. In order to maximize the effectiveness of builders in this circumstance, build as many as possible and spread them out. As soon as nuclear warheads become an option, you should keep damage prevention on standby!
Improvement Tiles
The basis of improvement Tiles is to make your empire function more cohesively. There are multiple varieties of these improvements, each of them capable of being constructed by builders. There are three main forms of improvement, resource building, housing, and power production. These are incredibly potent methods of increasing your empire’s reach globally. At every point in Civilization VI, the player will be forced to advance their empire with these improvements in order to keep up with the world! When choosing which improvements to use, consider what works best for your empire, and how it can benefit you!
Adjacency bonuses require more tiles
Resources
Improvements that target resources allow your nation to access interesting assets and goods. There are several kinds of resources, being compounded into strategic and luxury goods. Each improvement placed on a resource will allow your empire to gain access to that material, gaining a number per turn. These improvements can be increased via civics and technologies. Improvements are placed down on or around a resource on the map to gain access to them! Every resource improvement used by the builder consumes a single charge.
Housing
Housing improvements are useful for increasing the population size of your empire. Not only are these improvements great for making your empire larger, but often produce food or amenities. The key to adequate self-sufficiency in a city is to produce as much housing and food as possible. Due to the builder’s charges, this can be done quickly albeit at the expense of giving up other potential improvements that can be made. It is possible to eventually replace farms with neighborhoods, so don’t load up your playthrough with too many farms.
Power
Later game Civilization VI offers the players the ability to power their cities. These are an additional source of currency and allow for enhanced production of your resources. Builders are capable of making these improvements around cities to enhance their modernization. Some of these power sources are harmless such as wind and solar, however hydroelectric dams and nuclear energy can prove troublesome. It’s important to make these improvements as soon as they become available as they can create a massive boost to population growth. No matter the play style, power stations are a great way to create powerful empires!
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Improvement Adjacency
One of the most valuable aspects of improvements is to increase adjacent tiles. By putting two farms next to each other, or any other product improvement you’ll gain unity bonuses. Though small at first, these union bonuses can be daisy-chained in such a manner that the bonuses add up. These unique unity bonuses can be for any resource or district but require the prerequisites of those buildings to extend to adjacent tiles. For this reason, it’s incredibly potent to focus on resources that are good for trading like silver and mercury. These resources can be liquidated for money that fuels whatever your nation is lacking!
Building Your Nation
When it comes to producing a powerful nation, your hands are full of tools and rifles. For this reason, builders are just as important as any military force can be, advancing your nation one charge at a time. Civilization VI holds merit as one of the best 4x games available due to its ability to expand your empire. Builders are one more aspect of this expansion that allows you to shape the world in your ideals!
