Iron is an incredibly important Strategic Resource in Civilization 6, especially for players looking to start wars early. Players should prioritize locating Iron deposits as soon as they can so that they can ensure they can acquire some. Iron will significantly increase the player's military capabilities and give the player access to some much more powerful troops. For Domination games, in particular, it's essential to get a strong army as soon as possible.
Luckily, Iron is also one of the easiest resources to acquire in Civilization 6. To unlock it, players only need to research 2 different technologies and train some Builder units. Here, players can find out how to get Iron in Civilization 6.
Unlock Bronze Working
Bronze Working is one of the first technologies players will be able to unlock in Civilization 6, and is required to find Iron. It will become available to research once the player has completed the Mining technology.
The Bronze Working technology requires 80 Science total to complete, although players who want to acquire this technology as fast as possible can boost its progress by killing 3 Barbarian units. Once researched, all the Iron tiles on the map will be revealed, and the Iron Working technology will be made available to research, although the player only needs Bronze Working to mine Iron.
How To Mine Iron
To mine Iron in Civilization 6, players will first need to train a Builder unit. Their base Production cost is 50 Production, but they can also be purchased immediately for 200 Gold.
Once the player has trained their Builder, they need to move the unit to the Iron tile. From here, they should select the Mine ability. This will create an Iron Mine on the tile. Iron Mines work like any other Mine in Civilization 6 - they will provide a steady stream of the mined resource every turn up until the player's max limit. The initial limit is 50 per resource, but this can be increased by building Encampments. Each additional building in an Encampment district, such as Barracks and Armories, will increase the maximum amount of resources a player can have by 10.
It's important that the player remembers that the Iron must be within their city's tiles to be mined, as with every resource. Players cannot build Mines, or any other improvement, on tiles that aren't within their kingdom.
Trade With Other Civilizations
If the player has settled somewhere they can't easily access Iron from, there are some alternative ways to acquire it. Players can send trade requests to other civilizations that do have access to the resource and purchase it from them instead.
However, some civilizations are a bit trickier to trade with than others. Players may find it incredibly difficult to trade with civilizations they have a negative relationship with, so it's important to try to stay as friendly as possible in this situation.
Civilization 6 is available for iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
