3.1.2 Unit Orders

In addition to ordering your units to move and engage in combat, you may give a variety of other orders to different types of units. Some are state changes that take effect immediately, or at the end of the turn. Others are construction tasks that take time.

Airlift

(Land units only) Moves a land unit in a city with an Airport to any other friendly city with an Airport. The airlift occurs instantly, but expends all movement points of the unit. One airport may perform either part of this action once per turn.

Auto-Attack

(Military units only) Used in conjunction with the City Options, this allows you to direct units residing in a city to automatically sally out to attack approaching enemies. The unit must be within the city and given this order. Thereafter, based on that city's City Options, if an enemy unit of a given type approaches the city, the unit will leave the city, attack the enemy, return to the city, and resume its Auto-Attack status.

Auto-Explore

(Land or sea units only) Orders the unit to automatically explore the map, progressively revealing more of the unknown world.

Auto-Settler

(Settlers and Engineers only) Orders the unit to automatically perform improvement activities (irrigation, mining, roads, etc.) in the areas around friendly cities.

Bribe Enemy Unit

(Diplomat and Spy only) Bribes an enemy unit to join your empire, in exchange for gold from your treasury. Units of Democratic nations cannot be bribed.

Build City

(Settlers and Engineers only) Establishes a new city, disbanding the unit in the process.

Build Fortress

(Settlers and Engineers only) Constructs a Fortress in a land square. Units in a Fortress have their defense strength doubled when attacked, and combat against one unit in a Fortress will not result in the destruction of uninvolved units. Units in a Fortress also have different effects on the happiness in their home cities, see Government Types.

Build Road or Railroad

(Settlers and Engineers only) Builds a road in a land square (or a railroad if there is already a road). You may only build a road in a River square if you have the advancement Bridge Building.

Change Home City

Any unit presently in a city may have its home changed to that city; it takes effect instantly. Thereafter the unit is supported by the city for purposes of maintenance, morale, and ownership.

Clean Up Pollution

(Settlers and Engineers only) Cleans up pollution produced by industry, population, or nuclear weapons.

Disband Unit

Any unit may be disbanded at any time. If it is disbanded in a friendly city, half of the unit's production cost is deposited in the city's current production box.

Entice City Rebellion

(Diplomat and Spy only) Attempts to entice a city into rebelling against its empire and joining yours, for a price. Defending Diplomats or Spies in the city assist in its resistance of your offer. If the city makes an offer and you accept it and make the payment, the city changes hands, as well as its units within the city and in the field. A successful Spy is teleported back to its home city.

Fortify

Any land unit (other than Settlers and Engineers) may fortify, which means to place itself temporarily in a better posture to defend; this is different from constructing a permanent Fortress. It takes effect immediately. A fortified unit has its defense strength multiplied by 1.5 (see Combat), and regains lost hit points more rapidly.

Go To

The player may order a unit to go to a target square anywhere on the map. From that point, the game will plan a route for the unit, which the unit will follow turn after turn until it reaches the goal. In each turn, the unit will make as much progress as its movement point allowance permits. Once it reaches its goal it becomes ready for your orders. While in transit it is marked on the map with a "G"; if you click on it from the map window, you clear its Go To status.

Investigate city

(Diplomat and Spy only) Gives you a report on the city, its contents, and what it is producing. A Diplomat unit dies after making the information available.

Irrigate

(Settlers and Engineers only) Irrigates a Desert, Plains, Grassland, Hill, or River square. Clears Forest, Jungle, and Swamp squares to Plains, Grassland, and Grassland.

Make Embassy

(Diplomat and Spy only) Establishes an embassy in another civilization. Must be performed by entering a city of the other nation. If a Spy attempts this, and had previously used for subversive purposes, there is a chance that the attempt will fail and the Spy executed.

Mine

(Settlers and Engineers only) Mines a Desert, Hill, or Mountain square. Performs forestation on Grassland, Jungle, Plains, or Swamp squares. See Terrain.

Pillage

(Land units only) Orders the unit to spend the rest of its turn doing damage to the infrastructure of a land tile (irrigation, mine, railroad, or road, in that order). You get nothing from this in terms of gold or production resources; you use this simply to harm the enemy's land and damage his economy.

Poison City Water

(Spy only). Empties the city's food storage and kills one citizen. A defending Diplomat or Spy in the city may cause the attempt to fail.

Sabotage City

(Diplomat and Spy only) Attempts to destroy what is currently being produced by an enemy city, or an existing building. This is performed by entering the target city. For a Diplomat a random target is chosen; a Spy is allowed to be given a specific goal. It may fail if there is a defending Spy in the city. If successful, a Diplomat dies, but a Spy is teleported back to its home city.

Sentry

Any unit may be give this order, military or not. It commands a unit not to ask you for orders each turn. Unless interrupted, the unit will stay in its place on the map with an "S" marker on it. It will wake up, and be included among the units asking for your attention, when:

• You click on it from the map window, or
• An enemy unit moves adjacent to it (even if the enemy has moved away by the time you get to give the unit orders), or
• You select it from a city's list of units, or
• The unit completes recovery of lost hit points.

Steal Advance

(Diplomat and Spy only) Attempts to steal a civilization advance from the nation owning a city. The attempt may fail if there is a defending Diplomat or Spy, and will work only once per city per game. A Diplomat will steal a randomly chosen technology, and die in the attempt. A Spy will get to choose the stolen advancement, and has a chance of surviving; if it does, it is teleported back to its home city.

Transform

(Engineers only) Transforms a terrain square into another type. See Terrain.