terrian immprovement not working

[Akkaid]

I just got the game last week, and Ive noticed that when I irrigate grassland that has a base of 2/0/1, it doesnt improve anything. Shouldnt the tile produce 3/0/1 with irrigation?

[Franses]

The improvement will not do anything until you changed government. After the change it will indeed be 3/0/1.

[Willem]

You don't get the irrigation bonus while you're in Despotism.

[vondrack]

Precisely said, any tile that is producing more than 2 of something suffers a penalty of -1 under Despotism. That means that if you irrigate a cattle, floodplains, or a wheat tile, you will get +1 food even under Despotism, as these tiles are already penalized by having one of their extra foods subtracted. Also, irrigating plains and desert works under Despotism, since these tiles have not more than 2 food even if irrigated. But regular grassland under Despotism has 2 food --> 3 with irrigation, 3-1=2 with irrigation.