So I'm wondering (heh heh heh) which Wonders people love the most. Seeing as how I like several for different reasons, I'd like to hear people's opinions for the following categories:

Best Movie and Soundtrack: Schwedagon Paya for sure. The music perfectly fits that Wonder, and seeing it all gilded and sparkly has convinced me to build this wonder whenever possible, even though it comes a bit too late to be of much use to a warmonger type (usually have Theocracy by the time its completed, haha). Oh well, at least its shiny.

Best Effect: Depends on what Map I'm using. Since I always leave it on "Raging Barbarians", I'd say its a tie between Great Wall and Notre Dame (that happiness boost is HUGE and it lasts the rest of the game).

Best Great Person Points: Pyramids for sure. Getting a Great Engineer that early is what makes the hassle of building this monster worth it...honestly the effect is so-so if you ask me (Representation isn't that useful until you have a decent economy...and that is usually close to when you could research the civic on your own as is). At least that is the way I see it.

Best Bang for your Buck: Another tie, this time between The Colossus and (again), the Schwedagon Paya. Both can be sped up with relatively easy resources to secure (I realize some maps your going to get screwed, but generally speaking Bronze and Gold seem to be more common than Stone, Marble, and Ivory), and both have pretty good effects (Colossus is map dependent, but usually I feel it is worth it). Typically, I can build The Colossus in 7-8 turns if my capital is on the water, and the Schwedagon Paya in 10-12 if I have some mines...easy easy easy Wonders to get with pretty powerful effects.

So anyways, that's my take on the wonders...I'd do a poll, but I'm sure there wouldn't be enough room for all of them, so just follow my lead and list your top choices in the categories. Looking forward to seeing people's opinions :) .

Best Great Person Points: Pyramids for sure. Getting a Great Engineer that early is what makes the hassle of building this monster worth it...honestly the effect is so-so if you ask me (Representation isn't that useful until you have a decent economy...and that is usually close to when you could research the civic on your own as is). At least that is the way I see it.


say what?? Pyramids are the most overpowered wonder in the game for the very fact that you can run representation that early - it makes a huge difference. there is no reason to assume you would usually not have a decent economy in the early game. and the happiness boost from representation or the fact that you can switch to hereditary rule is also huge.

my favorite wonder all around would have to be great wall for the early spy points and the map effect

I enjoy to spread my religion all over the world then build the Spiral Minaret, with the Holy Building this gives me from +20 to +50 gold per turn, with universal suffrage I look to get waaaay ahead on tecs by the time of computers

Stonehenge... early great prophet = early "vatican" = free money. Plus, your city borders expand automatically so you can get the special resources 2 tiles away from your city more quickly

Great Pyramids... Love the 3 free happiness from representation. I play with a big tech cost multiplier to slow the game down a LOT, so representation takes 5x longer to get to for me.

Oracle... Free tech for the win. I make sure I have organized relgion and writing so I can get theology, which allows early access to the next awesome wonder

Apostolic Palace... +4 hammers from temple and monastary in each city is a HUGE boost if you can get it early. Often a 50% improvement over what the city had before

Best Movie and Soundtrack: Great Wall. Video is a hoot and a holler.

Best Effect: Pyramids. So many things to do with those civics early on.

Best Great Person Points: Great Library. Is that cheating? Oh well - I love my early great scientist farm ;)

Best Bang for your Buck: Stonehenge. Super cheap early on, gives you happiness if charismatic, your UB depending on who you are, and makes anyone who builds it basically creative... And allows for an early theology bulbing, which is a highly underestimated trading tool, and usually allows for you to found a religion in a very leisurely fashion.

I completely agree with AfterShafter's points, though I actually enjoy the creepy Internet video as well.

If you're playing on a hemispheres or continents map, the statute of liberty is huge. A free specialist in every city for the rest of the game? Coupling it with representation creates preposterous results.

In a way, though, it has a natural tension with mercantalism. In theory, you could get two free specialists per city. In practice, if you have enough cities to make it worthwhile, you're generally better off running state property.

If you're playing on a hemispheres or continents map, the statute of liberty is huge. A free specialist in every city for the rest of the game? Coupling it with representation creates preposterous results.

In a way, though, it has a natural tension with mercantalism. In theory, you could get two free specialists per city. In practice, if you have enough cities to make it worthwhile, you're generally better off running state property.

I don't understand why these maps are better for Statue of Liberty compared to other maps (except archipelgo, of course) ... could you explain?

I actually find a great symmety between mercantilism and the Statue if you want a culural victory. Add the Sistine Chapel and you have 2 extra specialists adding a lot of culture. It just depends on what kind of victory you are pursuing.

Same here for the Great Library...Would had the Taj Mahal for usaly my first Golden Age.

Best Movie and Soundtrack: Great Wall. Video is a hoot and a holler.

Totally agree with that.

Sound kinda creeps me out when im (very often) playing at midnight. OOOOH! :crazyeye:

LlamaCat-- I was overly restrictive there. All I was alluding to was: The bigger the landmass, the better. I guess Pangea would be even better, come to think of it.

of early game wonders i really like Stonehenge and Great Wall ... Stonehenge because it automaticily pops culture in every city and GW because i need to be less aware about quickly getting a defender to a new city

Two words: Great Library

Best Movie and Soundtrack: Great Wall. Video is a hoot and a holler.

Completely agree. Although it is not shiny.

Best Effect: Pyramids. So many things to do with those civics early on.

Nah. But that's prolly cos I don't like running SE. I'd say Apostolic Palace (the :hammers: are so overpowered!), with a close second the Great Library - 8 :gp: against scientist and six beakers, not bad - even better with Repr or Sistine.

Best Great Person Points: Great Library. Is that cheating? Oh well - I love my early great scientist farm ;)

Agree. See above.

Best Bang for your Buck: Stonehenge. Super cheap early on, gives you happiness if charismatic, your UB depending on who you are, and makes anyone who builds it basically creative... And allows for an early theology bulbing, which is a highly underestimated trading tool, and usually allows for you to found a religion in a very leisurely fashion.

Basically agree, although I rarely get it because I ignore the religious line alot of my games - stupid me. Else, I'd say The Great Wall.

Depends, blah,blah,blah. But in general The Great Wall.

Best Movie and Soundtrack: Great Wall

Best Effect: Pyramids

Best Great Person Points: Great Library

Best Bang for your Buck: Oracle

And not to just be a jerk here, but my two least favorite wonders are Shwedagon Paya and Colossus :). There's just not enough time between getting Shwedagon Paya and unlocking all the religion civics manually to justify the anarchy. Colossus only tricks you into working silly coastal tiles instead of cottages, and by the time you get your one-tile islands that would actually benefit from it, it obsoletes.

If I don't have barbarians on, then I would say the Pyramids or Shwedragon Paya are definitely the most useful.

If I do have them on, then I would say the Great Wall is the best.

Nah. But that's prolly cos I don't like running SE. I'd say Apostolic Palace (the :hammers: are so overpowered!), with a close second the Great Library - 8 :gp: against scientist and six beakers, not bad - even better with Repr or Sistine.




Heh, this was actually the toughest call for me. Runners up were AP (too dependent on religious game for me to give it #1), great library (that GS farm *rocks* and there are a ton of great wonders up its line - though, I already gave it kudos in another area). Three Gorges was another (for huge empires, it is a tremendous hammer saver) I really like.

For me, Pyramids won out because... Well, whether you want rep or not, in the late game, if you were so inclined to go US, that's a big tech route for the one civic - Pyramids saves you a lot of research late game. Also, police state is pretty damned handy - and again, it's a big research imposition. The Pyramids just offers a lot of flexibility in the early game, and saves you a lot of research in the late game - and the great engineer points don't hurt either. I look at the Pyramids being a lot more than just representation.

Archipelago Maps: Great Lighthouse
SE: Pyramids
Raging Barbarians: Great Wall

But my favourites and great value are Oracle and SH

For a leader with spiritual, Pyramids +Shwedagon Paya is about the best.

For a religion-heavy civ, AP + Spiral Minaret is hard to beat.

(If you are lucky enough to have marble, that changes everything, of course. But I never seem to find any early on...)

I used to be addicted to the oracle, but now i tend to skip it...unless i have marble right away or feel the need to rush a particular tech.
I'd rather build another settler or amass more units, which is far more valuable usually than one early tech and prophet points...
there are strategies that make it viable, i know, but i just don't feel it has that 'bang for the buck' lots are talking about...

instead i tend to push for the great library, now there is one hot wonder! scientists are waaaay more valuable then prophets and it's cumulative bonus outshines the oracle in the long run easily.

getting that great scientist building very early (academy?) alone is more powerful than the oracle...it's easy to fall in love with the oracle and it's instant gratification, but for me, i'd rather go for long term results... plus i hate dirtying up my great people points with prophet percentages... just don't care for em too much.(unless i happen to found a religion)

if i start with stone, you can bet your boots i'm going for the pyramids :)

if playing a charismatic leader, i love stonehenge and eiffel tower...free happiness is always handy

i've never built the great wall (don't play with raging barbs)...but now i'm curious about the movie :)

If you play with raging barbarians, nothing beats the great wall.

Not the best wonder I know but If I play as Pericles I like to have a crack at the Hanging Gardens

I try to REX 4 maximum 5 cities pushing hard for stone

Build two libraries and try to get 12GPP in each right away

Lightbulb mathematics

Your workers should not be too busy cause your other cities have specialists running so send them back to the city thats going to build the HG ( 30 hammers per chop now)

Other cities then recover with the free popullation point

Got no religion or much of an army at this point ?? no problem you are one tech from construction which means Odeons too and your second city with the library should be just about to lightbulb philosophy for you

Now you can build big healthy happy cities , own a holy city , create a one dimensional army of phalanxes and catapults and get 4 great engineer points per turn

Just got to do some back fill now

Its only a national wonder, but I prefer Moai Statues. I've always loved easter island, and :hammers: on all water tiles can make a coastal powerhouse. Has anyone ever tried pairing this with the Dutch dike?

Its only a national wonder, but I prefer Moai Statues. I've always loved easter island, and :hammers: on all water tiles can make a coastal powerhouse. Has anyone ever tried pairing this with the Dutch dike?

yes, but it only becomes a decent city, not good. water tiles are not nearly as good as land tiles.

Dike/Moai/Lighthouse water tile is 2 food, 2 hammers, 1 or 2 commerce. A fully upgraded Cottage, Workshop, or Watermill can turn a grasslands or plains tile into something better than that

Very true Gilfan.............I used to think the statues were amazing........I think its possibly due to playing heaps of Civ 3 where the statues would be awesome.........But once you see the true power of cottages , workshops etc you realise the statues arnt all that flash

Stonehenge, and the Great Wall. Both keep the bad guys away for a while...:p

Its only a national wonder, but I prefer Moai Statues. I've always loved easter island, and :hammers: on all water tiles can make a coastal powerhouse. Has anyone ever tried pairing this with the Dutch dike?

Just for fun, I spent most of one game building Moai Statues, a Dike, and the Ironworks in a one tile island with three fish resources. It never was as good as building those wonders in a decent production city, but it certainly made Golden Ages entertaining.

If you are not a big fan of having your cities and improvements rapped Great Wall is amazing.

Pyramids are nice, engineers are good, especially early on IMO. Plus going to representation early is nice.

If you have your tech tree set right Oracle can be pretty nice.

Best Bang for buck is Stonehenge IMO.

I also like the Apostolic Palace, but that is more because the Vatican is badass, I wish they called it St. Peters Square though.

Best Movie and Soundtrack: Great Wall. Video is a hoot and a holler.

Best Effect: Pyramids. So many things to do with those civics early on.

Best Great Person Points: Great Library. Is that cheating? Oh well - I love my early great scientist farm ;)

Best Bang for your Buck: Stonehenge. Super cheap early on, gives you happiness if charismatic, your UB depending on who you are, and makes anyone who builds it basically creative... And allows for an early theology bulbing, which is a highly underestimated trading tool, and usually allows for you to found a religion in a very leisurely fashion.

Hmmm, I love the Great Library!