Terrain improvements are changes to a Hex or District that improve the land for your polity’s use, such as cultivating fields, digging mines, building roads, and clearing forests for lumber. The following list describes common improvements.

If an improvement says you can upgrade it into another improvement, you can do so by paying the cost difference between the two improvements. When the upgrade is complete, you lose the benefit of the old improvement but gain the benefit of the new improvement.

A hex can have any number of improvements, unless otherwise specified.

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Basic Terrain Improvements

Before roads, buildings, aqueducts, and other civic structures can be constructed, first the land must be properly surveyed by a scouting party, cleared, and prepared.

Terrain	Exploration Time (per hex)	Preparation Time	Preparation Cost	Farm Cost	Road Cost
Cavern	3 days	3 months (12 turns)	8 BP	—	4 BP
Desert	2 days	1 month (4 turns)	4 BP	8 BP	4 BP
Forest	2 days	2 months (8 turns)	4 BP	—	2 BP
Hills	1 day	1 month (4 turns)	2 BP	4 BP	3 BP
Jungle	2 days	4 months (16 turns)	12 BP	—	4 BP
Marsh	3 days	3 months	8 BP	—	4 BP
Mountains	3 days	4 months	12 BP	—	4 BP
Plains	1 day	—	1 BP	2 BP	1 BP
Water	2 days	—	—	—	—
Ruins	3 days	1 week (1 turn)	4 BP	—	2 BP

Notes:

• Exploration Time: In cases where the PCs have personally explored a hex or district, this can be waved.
• Coastlines: Coastal regions count as whatever terrain the “land” portion is.
• Farms: Farm cost represents the BP cost to cultivate a hex for farming. a Farm must be within or adjacent to a hex containing a river, lake, swamp, or Canal, or adjacent to at least 2 hexes that already contain Farms.
• Roads: Road cost represents the BP cost to establish a Road that crosses a hex or district and connects to all adjacent hexes. The cost to build a Road doubles if the hex contains rivers (as Bridges, Ferries, or Fords must be established). A polity with a Size greater than 25 can build a Highway, or upgrade a Road to a Highway (see below).

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Specific Terrain Improvements:

• Aqueduct: An Aqueduct brings water from alpine lakes and rivers to lowland cities where water is scarce or insufficient for the local populace. A finished series of Aqueduct hexes must connect to a hill or mountain hex (with a river or lake) on one end and a settlement on the other end; otherwise, you do not gain its benefit.
  • Terrain: One end must be hill or mountain hex; can pass through any type of hex.
  • Effect: Loyalty +1, Stability +1, allows settlement to build water-dependent buildings.
  • Cost: As a Road, except the cost is not doubled for hexes with rivers (see above).

• Bridges: A Bridge allows your Road hexes to cross rivers.
  • Cost: When you build a Road in a hex that contains a river, the doubled coast of the Road includes the cost of bridges needed to cross the river. You don’t need to build a Bridge as a separate unit; it’s listed here for reference only.

• Canal: A Canal is an artificial waterway that allows barge traffic to haul heavy commodities.
  • Terrain: Desert, hill, or plain.
  • Effect: Settlements in a hex with a Canal treat the hex as if it had a river.
  • Cost: Twice the cost of a Road (see above).

• Farms: A Farm helps feed your kingdom.
  • Terrain: Desert (requires canal, coastline, or river), hill, or plain.
  • Effect: Consumption decreases by 2 BP.
  • Cost: See above.

• Fishery: A Fishery is like a Farm, except it provides abundant fish rather than planted crops.
  • Terrain: Coastline, water, river, or marsh.
  • Effect: Consumption decreases by 1 BP.
  • Cost: 4 BP.

• Fort: A Fort is a walled encampment for military forces outside a settlement. You can upgrade a Watchtower to a Fort (Unrest decreases when you do so, just as if you had built the Fort from scratch).
  • Terrain: Any land.
  • Effect: Stability +2, Defense +4, increase Consumption by 1 BP; Unrest decreases by 1 when completed. If this hex becomes a settlement, this improvement counts as one Barracks and one Stables building.
  • Cost: 24 BP.

• Highway: A highway is a paved and well-maintained version of a Road. You may upgrade a Road into a Highway. You must have a kingdom of Size greater than 25 to build a Highway.
  • Terrain: Any hex with a Road.
  • Effect: Economy +1 for every 4 contiguous hexes of Highway, Stability +1 for every 8 contiguous hexes of Highway; improves overland travel speed.
  • Cost: Twice the cost of a Road (see above).

• Mine: A Mine extracts metal, coal, salt, or other useful materials from the earth.
  • Terrain: Cavern, desert, hill, or mountain.
  • Effect: Economy +1, earn +1 BP per turn when collecting taxes during the Income Phase.
  • Cost: 6 BP.
  • Special: Mining is very harmful to the land, and unpleasant to live near. A mine effectively occupies an entire Hex and cannot share space with other upgrades aside from Roads, Canals, or Aqueducts.

• Quarry: A Quarry extracts workable stone from the ground.
  • Terrain: Cavern, hill, or mountain.
  • Effect: Stability +1, earn +1 BP per turn when collecting taxes during the Income Phase.
  • Cost: 6 BP.
  • Special: Quarrying is very harmful to the land, and unpleasant to live near. A Quarry effectively occupies an entire Hex and cannot share space with other upgrades aside from Roads, Canals, or Aqueducts.

• Sawmill: A sawmill centralizes the activities of loggers and turns trees into lumber for use in building and crafting.
  • Terrain: Forest or jungle.
  • Effect: Stability +1, earn +1 BP per turn when collecting taxes during the Income Phase.
  • Cost: 3 BP.
  • Special: In order to be effective, the land around a Sawmill must be left uncultivated and forested. A Sawmill effectively occupies an entire Hex and cannot share space with other upgrades aside from Roads, Canals, or Aqueducts.

• Vineyard:
  • Terrain: A vineyard is a specialized farm that is built in hill hexes.
  • Effect: A vineyard hex reduces consumption by 1 BP. If a vineyard is adjacent to a city, a Brewery can be built in that city for one less BP (minimum 1 BP).
  • Cost: 3 BP.

• Watchtower: A Watchtower flies your flag, is a safe place for your patrols, and establishes your power on the frontier. a Watchtower cannot share a hex with a Fort or another Watchtower.
  • Terrain: Any land.
  • Effect: Stability +1, Defense +2; Unrest decreases by 1 when completed. If this hex becomes a settlement, this improvement counts as a Watchtower building.
  • Cost: 12 BP.

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Special Hex Types:

• Ruins: Ruins are partially destroyed buildings or towns. If you claim a Hex or District containing a Ruin, you can use the Ruin as the basis of an appropriate type of building (as determined by the GM), reducing the cost of that building by half. Alternatively, you can salvage building materials from the Ruin, reducing the cost of 1 new building in that hex by 1d4 BP.
• Caverns: This is a large system of caves and underground passages and can be found in any terrain type except Marsh. It functions as an additional hex that exists underground, below the surface Hex or District.
• River: A River allows water travel through your polity, facilitating trade and allowing irrigation. Economy increases by 1 for every 4 River hexes claimed, and Stability increases by 1 for every 8 such hexes claimed.
• Lair: A Lair is usually a cave or defensible shelter that can be used as a defensive fallback point, a storage location, or even a guardpost or prison. If you claim a hex with a Lair, Stability increases by 1. If you construct a Fort or Watchtower over a Lair, its Defense increases by 1. At the GM’s option, a Lair may allow access to an underground cavern hex (see above).
• Landmark: A Landmark is a site of great pride, mystery, and wonder, such as an outcropping in the shape of a human face, a smoking volcano, or a lake with an unusual color or unique properties. The Landmark bolsters your kingdom’s morale. If you claim a hex with a Landmark, Loyalty increases by 1. If the Hex is improved to have a Road or Highway, Loyalty increases by an additional 1.
• Resource: A Resource is a ready supply of some kind of valuable commodity that offers a great economic boon to your kingdom, such as exotic lumber, precious metal, gems, rare herbs, incense, silk, ivory, furs, salt, dyes, and the like. If you claim a hex with a Resource, Economy increases by 1. If you construct a Mine, Quarry, or Sawmill in a hex with an appropriate Resource, all of its benefits increase by 1. If you construct a Farm or Fishery in a hex with an appropriate Resource, those improvements decrease Consumption by an additional 1 BP.