We all know that being productive is better than just being busy. What is your civilization up to? If it needs to be more productive, a popular, much-loved wonder called Ruhr Valley can help. Modeled after a real coal mine in Germany, Ruhr Valley is a boon to production if you’re able to get it.
There’s no civ or city that wouldn’t benefit from the boost in production, either, so whenever I see this one become available, I build it ASAP. You can use Ruhr Valley to actually do things with all the cool tech you’re discovering, and you can use the production to quickly scale a massive army.
How to Build Ruhr Valley in Civilization 6
To be able to build Ruhr Valley, you need to have a spot for it. It must be along a river but also next to a Factory in a corresponding Industrial District. Compared to other wonders, this isn’t the toughest geographic requirement, but on some maps it can be challenging.
The base cost to build the wonder is 1450 production. This is a good one to plan for when you’re ready to place an Industrial District.
Why Is Ruhr Valley Considered One of the Best Wonders in Civilization 6?
Ruhr Valley’s primary strength is simple: it gives your city +20% production and adds a +1 to production for every quarry and mine in the city. This wonder is literally a game changer, especially if your city’s production is a main reason for your lag in victory score.
Many players prefer it for domination and science victories, because it complements your ability to produce a large army and to actually build things (like space components!) with the advanced tech you discover first.
You’d think Ruhr Valley would provide a coal bonus considering the IRL version is a major coal mine, but nah.
About the Controversial Ruhr Valley Quote Used in the Game
When wonders appear, Sean Bean narrates a beautiful quote to go along with it, usually emphasizing the importance of the wonder. When you hear the one associated with Ruhr Valley, you might wonder if you made a big mistake and are LOSING production instead of getting more. Here’s the quote:
“The industrial heart of Germany practically stopped beating. Hardly anyone worked; hardly anything ran. The population of the Ruhr area … had to be supported by the rest of the country.”
Adam Fergusson
Ruhr Valley is a confusing one, because the quote associated with it in the game talks about production shutting down. However, this is meant to illustrate the loss that occurs without production, and therefore, the importance of production. Don’t let the quote scare you — your wonder is producing!
Ruhr Valley Strategy: Which Civs Need It?
Some civilizations need more help than others when it comes to production, and others become completely overpowered when you add Ruhr Valley due to other elements. Ruhr Valley is a popular wonder for players running Ethiopia, because Ethiopia relies on using faith to buy things and converting faith to culture. With Ruhr Valley, Ethiopia gets its own production bonus.
I also recommend Ruhr Valley for Sundiata Keita of Mali. His civ runs into a lot of production deficiencies due to permanent production penalties. Plus, if you’re playing as Germany, you get an extra district. You can go bonkers with production if you have this wonder in a city with max districts.
Ruhr Valley is decent for any civ that needs more production — which is often the result of just getting a crappy map placement or settling in a less-than-ideal place.
Always place the Ruhr Valley wonder near cities that have mines, but if you don’t have many, consider the city with the most production.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
We hope you enjoyed our guide about the Ruhr Valley wonder in Civilization 6. Please check out Gamer Journalist on Facebook to join the discussion and keep up to date with our content. You may also want to check out our guide to the best Civ VI leaders for winning a science victory.
