Wonders Strategy Article: Oracle

OK, onto the next World Wonder, the Oracle.

Not really the next that's a vailable but pretty cheap to build and has good synergy with Stonehenge, so we will discuss this next

The Oracle's use is simple, you get a Free Tech and what's not to like about that! It requires the knowledge priesthood, so the techpath is a little more difficult at higher levels. It get's a 100% production bonus with marble.

Comments to start

1) Since it requires the mysticism/meditation or polytheism/priesthood line it's not the easiest early tech to get from an AI. But if you found an early religion, your far along.

2) Hyuna Capac has a special advantage here as he's the only IND leader to start with mysticism!

3) As with Stonehenge it provides Greaterson Points, thus if you manage both you can get Prophets alot faster! Even if there is no steonhenge the chances of getting a shrined religion are pretty high (see below on techs).

4) But the real la Creme is your free tech! Now of course some people get outrageous things (someone nailed education once ) so I am going to list the most common choices, at least what I have managed (all proven in at least one RPC game of mine)

A) Metal Casting: Usully the most expensive (pottery/Bronze Working) and the one you want if IND for the fast and early forges. It also allows first crack at the Colossus which is almost impossible to lose.

B) Code of Laws: To found a religion (to shrine with your prophet), access Caste for an early SE, and courthouses for the economy! If you go this route there is also good synergy with the pyramids by adopting caste and representation very early.

C) Monarchy: Simple yet eliminates alot of unhappiness by adopting Heritary Rule and opens up a powerful defensive tech in Fuedalism. Beware of Sitting Bull if he ever get's this combo.

D) Theology: Founding another religion (and again a possible shrined one). You also get first crack at building the AP for diplomacy and production bonus to temples/monestaries, plus you open the door for theocracy and some powerful early promoted units. Religion, war, diplomacy, production, take your pick!

E) Fuedalism: Very tricky but doable (see my Isabella RPC for a good illustration). You need both writing and Monarchy, with Monarchy being a rather difficult tech to get early enough!. Still getting Vassalage and Longbows so early can be a game altering event!

Now there are other goos techs to get such as Currency, Math, Alphabet, Aesthetics etc... But these are the 5 I get the most.

5) Finally, this wonder becomes obsolete as soon as it's built! This and The Taj Majal are the most worthless wonders to ever capture from an AI as they have no uses after the immediate benefit.

OK, let's here everyone's opion!

Do you still go after the Oracle?

What techs do you take?

Civil service should also be mentioned. It is gotten frequently on all sorts of very fast play (or just starts with gems and/or gold in the bfc). It is probably doable up to emperor even without mining resources (though it might require an early academy). Up to monarch it is possible to get education pretty consistently with a philo leader with 2+ mining resources in the bfc (not something that happens a lot). It is also possible to get construction/currency/alpha/machinery with oracle all having some merit or other.

I love settling a city on marble then chopping out the oracle there, but most often it just gets built in the capital as it normally goes very early.

Most often the sacrefices in terms of early development you have to go through to get oracle are too great to consider it. Sometimes it is a great build and it is important to identify in what cases that is.

Construction is a simple tech (requires math only) and I will add. Likewise I guess Calandar if you have alot of plantation resources.

Civil Service is still doable in BTS but was nerfed starting in warlords since. I think we now need Math and CoL????

Machinery would require a Great Merchant to bulb Metal Casting, right???

Education requires theology or Civil Service, alphabet, and Paper first. A few Great Scienitsts and some timely trades are required, seams difficult without losing it to the AI.

I agree on the sacrifices required and it is definitely situational. If you have no close neighbors it may be worth diverting a little expnasion and military for a plum tech. Other times it can save a game (again the Isabella RPC was saved by getting Fuedalism for free).

Very strong wonder indeed . The "Miracle"
only thing is this wonder is on AI's priority list so it is hard to get if you have no Marble and not Ind (on Emperor + obviously)

I almost never go for it anymore unless I have Marble nearby.
When I do get it I usually go for Metal Casting. Or monarchy for that quick boost in Happiness.
I think I've gotten Machinery via the bulb of Metal Casting before, or something like that...

I know I got to Gunpowder really quickly (as Ottomans) with a Great Engineer/Merchant bulb strat, not sure if I built the Oracle for Metal Casting that time.

Education doesn't require alphabet... Most of the time I just research it the hard way through math -> col -> CS -> paper (often skip BW and wheel/pottery for this for example, most usable in occ). If that is doable, Machinery is obviously way easier as it just require BW pottery and MC. CS does require col and math, but if you have gems or gold and a library (and maybe an academy if you are philo) it doesn't take that long to get.

OK, I think I'll split the main article into techs "usually" obtainable for free (i will include the math based techs of currency/construction/calandar here); then those that are more difficult to get but doable such as Civil Service, machinery, Fuedalism; and then heroic efforts which includes techs others have claimed to get such as education. It's a strategy article so I want it to be realistic, yet include those lofty goals for the truely insane to try!

It is not only truly insane. It is useful for hof style min/max play. Not for everyone. But when you want to see how far you can push it, it can be fun.

Oh and another thing about oracle. In mp with tech trading on it might be possible to share the burden through alphabet to get to tech goals faster. That way CS/feud is way easier to obtain than is otherwise possible (though you'll share the spoils as well). In opposition to henge oracle's value go down when you are in teams as the tech rate is way faster hence the individual tech is worth less, also gpp points are worth less in teams (but that goes for any wonder).

I know this should probably go in the stonehenge thread but i can't be bothered to make another post. Stonehenge is very useful when you are going for very fast domination as it allows you to get those borderpops so much faster. Without henge those BC's dom victories would be a lot harder. Of course it is captured just as often as it is built.

It's not worth going for education from the Oracle on lower levels, you should get civil service from it to run bureaucracy sooner.

Civil service is definitely doable at monarch with a one city challenge.

Sure it is worth it, at least if philo. I calced on it once and in that situation I saved beakers worth roughly half of education. Of course that isn't always true. If you are fin but not phi and you have cottages as well as gold/gems CS might just be better...

True, it's not insane! So for this wonder I will catagorize techs into

Easy (MC, Mon, CoL, Alphabet, Aestheics, Theology, Math) requires early worker based techs
Moderate (Currency, Construction, Calendar) requires 1 minor early tech
Difficult (Machinery, Fuedalism, Civil Service) 1 major or 2 minor techs
Heroic (Education) Numerous advanced techs

Just a start here though.

For OCCs I will leave comments on this page but feel free to still comment on it.

As far as multi-player I rely on everyone elses comments here as I have not played them.

Regarding SH I will add the war-mongering comment on the main start guide.



I have my own opions but the purpose is a general community strategy article on wonders so I will defer the actualt article to what we agree upon.

Philosophy should go in the moderate difficulty too.

In MP, even the moderate difficulty techs are often rather hard to get.

If you capture the Oracle you still get +2 great prophet points, but that is all.

I played a HoF time victory game recently at warlord level BtS where I built all the wonders (except Mausoleum, captured from Ragnar). I took civil service from oracle in that game.

I find the Oracle most useful in conjunction with GP bulbing. Bulbing or Oracling techs to open up better ones for the other such as;

-GE or Oracle going for MC and the other getting Machinery, might be doable with a fast Forge Engineer specialist, but mostly mids specific.
-Oracling CoL to remove the most expensive requirement for the Philosophy bulb and acting as tradebait to get Alpha and Maths
-Prophet bulbing Theology to open Paper for the Oracle, I've only ever done this with Egypt but it works well if your building a lot of religious buildings where the UoS and AP become very appealing.
-Prophet bulb to Monarchy (before Writing), getting Writing and Oracling Feudalism. Again I have only gone for this as Egypt as early GP will reduce the delay in getting Writing and Priest slots mean Scientists are not quite so immediately necessary.

I got Divine Right once in a Monarch tiny map game, playing as RamsesII. It was impressive in terms of the research cost, but it was absolutely no help to my game at that point or better said as .. I wouldn't have known how to use it to an advantage.

This and The Taj Majal are the most worthless wonders to ever capture from an AI as they have no uses after the immediate benefit.

Click to expand...

This is not entirely correct. They still contribute gpts when captured. And it's less that your opponents get, as well as less culture.

I only build Oracle if I can grab advanced flight with it.

Seriously though, some things relevant to actually building this wonder and not insane best-case scenarios:
1) Only on low difficulty levels should marble be considered when deciding whether to build Oracle. Building the quarry typically requires teching masonry and wheel, as well as 6 worker turns for the quarry, and 2+ for the necessary roads. I don't know the proper cut-off but I would estimate that above Monarch (at least) marble should be ignored.
2) Unlike most wonders, assuming you have at least a few forests, the actual build cost is less important than tech rate. You will need to be able to unlock something worth grabbing with the oracle. MC requires wheel, pottery, BW; CoL requires writing; etc. It is not uncommon to find yourself holding up the Oracle with 1 turn left so you can get the necessary techs.

JBossch said:

I only build Oracle if I can grab advanced flight with it.

Seriously though, some things relevant to actually building this wonder and not insane best-case scenarios:
1) Only on low difficulty levels should marble be considered when deciding whether to build Oracle. Building the quarry typically requires teching masonry and wheel, as well as 6 worker turns for the quarry, and 2+ for the necessary roads. I don't know the proper cut-off but I would estimate that above Monarch (at least) marble should be ignored.
2) Unlike most wonders, assuming you have at least a few forests, the actual build cost is less important than tech rate. You will need to be able to unlock something worth grabbing with the oracle. MC requires wheel, pottery, BW; CoL requires writing; etc. It is not uncommon to find yourself holding up the Oracle with 1 turn left so you can get the necessary techs.

Click to expand...

Very true on both counts. Getting marble hooked up for the Oracle is akin to getting stone for Stonehenge; i.e., overkill and hard to manage before the AI beats you to the wonder. Re: your other point, I have accidentally completed the Oracle too soon and ended up having to take something silly (Iron Working, etc.) with it. IMO, the cheapest tech worth taking with the Oracle is Monarchy. Having huge cities early would be a meaningful advantage from the Oracle.

I would also add that you can pop Theology with Oracle if you have researched Writing and Monotheism first. Thus you would have the choice of either CoL or Theology (since CoL just requires Writing and Priesthood), allowing you to pick your preferred civic and/or founded religion. Some people prefer to use a great prophet to lightbulb Theology, but the Oracle method allows you to skip some of the filler religious techs that need to be eliminated for lightbulbing.

Since I regularly started playing at Emperor, I rarely am in an early game position to get Priesthood. I am frankly too damned busy learning military and worker techs to expand and deal with barbarians. However, if you can snag the Great Wall and keep the AI off your back, the Oracle is feasible if you are pursuing a wonder-based strategy. Like Stonehenge, at higher difficulty levels it may be better to build the Oracle in a second or third city (with a lot of lumber) so that your capital is free to pump out units.

i can't say i often build it... normally i go for BW and alphabet/mathematics instead of the religious branch. apart from mysticism i pretty much forgo that area completely.

when i do build it, i like CoL (or currency if possible). the early courthouses and caste system are very beneficial.

I just find it funny when everyone so anal to win the Liberism race to get a free tech but too few love for the Oracle . The free tech in this early stages is so huge , it usually take you 20-30 turn to research them