Preserve (Civ6)

The Preserve is a specialty in Civilization VI, dedicated to conservation and Appeal. It requires the Mysticism civic.
* Effects:
** Grants up to 3 based on tile's Appeal
** +1 Appeal
** Initiate a Culture Bomb on adjacent unowned tiles
* Restrictions:
** Cannot be built next to the City Center
=== Buildings ===
The following buildings can be constructed in a Preserve:
* Grove
* Sanctuary
Unlike other district buildings, you can build these buildings in any order provided that you have unlocked them both.
== Strategy ==
The main purpose of the Preserve is to boost the Appeal and the yields of nearby unimproved tiles, therefore making them useful even without special infrastructure. It can be built anywhere, as long as it is away from the City Center. The Preserve is unique in a sense that instead of gaining adjacency bonuses from surrounding tiles, unimproved surrounding tiles benefit from being adjacent to the Preserve.
There are several points to consider when constructing a Preserve:
# This district becomes available very early in the game. This makes it potentially the second or third district you will build (after a Holy Site or Campus, and possibly even before an Encampment or Commercial Hub). That is, if you find any use for it!
# The district itself is almost useless. On its own, the only serious effect it has is Culture Bombing adjacent tiles, which may instantly add many tiles if positioned right. However, its other innate effect (+1 Appeal) is rarely of any serious use in the early game, and later you will find many other ways to improve Appeal. Apart from that, the district doesn't contribute any points or have any special potential on its own; however, its buildings add serious bonuses to nearby tiles if they have high enough Appeal. Even if you have enough high-Appeal tiles, you need to build a building in it to get real yield bonuses and Population to harvest them. Don't build this district too early.
# The Preserve becomes more useful when starting the game in the Industrial Era or later: not only do more free tiles and Population when settling a city (and more ways to get higher Appeal) make it easier to build it and get yields, but you also get a free Grove whenever you build a Preserve.
# The tiles adjacent to a Preserve can also be controlled by a different city without losing the Grove and Sanctuary yields, so there are scenarios where it might be beneficial to construct the Preserve 3 hexes away.
With these points in mind, we can conclude that the Preserve may become incredibly useful very early in the game for civilizations which start in regions with high Appeal (near Mountains or Coasts, but far from rivers with Floodplains or Rainforests). Rush Mysticism, plop down a Preserve and build its Grove, then watch these Charming and Breathtaking tiles turbo-boost your city's growth, , and (both very important for any civilization seeking general development). Later on, even more interesting yields will appear when you build the Sanctuary.
For cities situated in less appealing regions, the Preserve has little use. Yes, you can use the extra territory, but you will rarely gain more than 1 from it, or manage to push nearby tiles' Appeal rating above 1 so as to gain extra yields. Instead, try to use the Preserve in regions with terrain which has no resources or features, or where common tile improvements cannot be built (such as Desert, Tundra, or Snow). If you find ways to make them at least Charming, it will be worth it.
Because the Preserve increases the Appeal of and triggers a Culture Bomb on surrounding tiles, it is best placed 2 hexes away from the City Center. Tiles you plan to incorporate into National Parks or improve with Seaside Resorts can also benefit from a nearby Preserve: National Parks and Seaside Resorts must be built on tiles of high enough Appeal (Charming and Breathtaking, respectively), which a Preserve can help you achieve. Keep in mind that in order to establish a National Park, all 4 tiles within that Park need to be unimproved and the Preserve itself is a , so it cannot be included in a National Park. The Preserve is also a good source of , especially in the early game.
Although it is generally worthwhile to leave adjacent tiles unimproved due to the yields supplied by the Grove and the Sanctuary, it is worth noting that Neighborhoods gain more based on Appeal, so if your land Appeal is very bad overall (as is often the case when playing as the Gauls, for instance) it may be worth placing them next to a city's Preserve as a last resort. Australia and the Mapuche are a couple of civilizations that may also want to build infrastructure adjacent to their Preserves. Preserves are also a fine way to make use of tiles that cannot be improved normally (like natural wonders, or s in the Secret Societies game mode) or are at risk of being hit by disasters (like those adjacent to active Volcanoes, which will often contain Volcanic Soil).
Finally, there are some unique bonuses that seem to especially encourage leaving nature untouched, and these synergize with this district even better:
* The Marae grants and to beautiful tile features anyway, and the civilization ability of the Māori grants to their unimproved Woods as well.
* The Inca have the ability to work Mountains, which are perpetually Breathtaking. All you need to do is to find a spot adjacent to as many Mountains tiles as possible, then build your Preserve nearby.
* Bull Moose Teddy has arguably the strongest combo with this district: with the Earth Goddess pantheon, Breathtaking American tiles adjacent to this district offer a whopping 2 , 2 , 3 , 2 , 2 , and 2 on top of the extra 2 and/or 2 depending on the features adjacent to the tiles.
* Brazil can further bolster the Appeal of their Rainforests with Preserves, which work very well with Appeal-boosting Holy Sites and the Sacred Path/Work Ethic combo. However, it is recommended to do this later in the game and in the middle of your territory, as Rainforests outside of your territory will still have poor Appeal.
* Ptolemaic Cleopatra's Floodplains provide +1 Appeal to adjacent tiles. With a little bit of planning and the +2 Appeal bonus from Egypt's Sphinxes, this can lead to many Breathtaking tiles.
=== Bugs ===
Unlike other specialty districts, the Preserve doesn't have a district cost discount and doesn't provide +2 Combat Strength to city defenses.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Gallery ==
File:Preserve District In-game (Civ6).jpg|Preserve District in game
File:Desert Preserve (Civ6).png|Desert Preserve
File:Maori Preserve (with Marae) (Civ6).jpg|Māori Preserve
File:Incan Preserve (Civ6).jpg|Incan|Incan Preserve with Mountains
== See also ==
* Preserve in other games
Category:Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass