Hunza

Strategy guide

+1 Gold per 5 tiles of route length rewards the long haul. Combined with trading posts extending range, cross-continent routes pick up meaningful extra gold. Route length is shown before you commit a trader — pick the far city when yields are otherwise close.

Best civs & plans

Pairs with long-range trade kits — Portugal's sea routes and Persia's road network both stretch route length naturally.

Envoy plan

Trade city-states give the best early envoy return of any type, and Hunza is no exception: one envoy adds gold in the capital and every Market and Lighthouse, three add more in Banks, Shipyards and Consulates. Even a player who never wants the suzerain bonus should drop a first envoy here. Suzerainty is worth pursuing only after your trader count reaches four or five and your routes are running to another continent, since the bonus scales with distance. The AI competes for trade city-states steadily but rarely commits more than four envoys, so a lead of five is usually safe through the renaissance. Envoys from the civics that grant them and from Amani established in Hunza itself are the cheapest way to hold that margin.

Value by era

In the ancient era Hunza's bonus is nearly invisible, because early routes go to whichever city is close enough to reach and rarely exceed a handful of tiles. The bonus begins to matter in the classical era once the Harbor and Commercial Hub open up longer sea routes, and it becomes a genuine income source in the medieval and renaissance eras when Trading Posts in far cities extend range and cross-continent routes become standard. From the industrial era on, with a dozen traders each running maximum-length ocean routes, the accumulated gold is enough to fund a unit purchase every few turns. Its value never declines, but it does plateau once your route count stops growing, so a late acquisition is only worth it for a trade-heavy empire.

Pitfalls and how to protect it

The main error is chasing distance for its own sake. A long route yields extra gold, but a nearby route to a city with a wonder or many districts often pays more in total, and a domestic route feeding food and production to a new city can be worth far more than any gold. Compare the full yield line, not just the Hunza line. Long routes also spend more turns exposed to barbarian ships and pillaging armies, so pair Hunza with escort ships or, on a water map, with Mogadishu's plunder immunity. If a neighbor takes Hunza, the loss is only gold, so a Protectorate War is justified only when you were already planning to fight that neighbor.

Envoy bonuses

• 1 envoy+2 Gold in your capital and in each Market or Lighthouse you own.
• 3 envoys+4 Gold in each Bank, Shipyard and Consulate you own.
• 6 envoys+6 Gold in each Stock Exchange, Seaport and Chancery you own.

Envoy bonuses are shared by every city-state of the same type.

Other Trade city-states

• Venice
• Cahokia
• Jakarta
• Mogadishu
• Muscat
• Samarkand
• Zanzibar

Related guides

• City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
• Diplomatic Victory: Earning and Spending FavorA working plan for the Gathering Storm diplomatic victory: where Diplomatic Favor actually comes from, how World Congress sessions and votes turn into victory points, which emergencies, competitions and wonders matter, how to keep alliances alive, and when to spend favor versus hold it against a rival's lead.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
• Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03