Alternate Wonder Ideas

I'm all for adding more Wonders into the game, but I'd like to see it harder to build certain wonders, or at least give them different requirements. For instance, in Civ3 all you needed to build a wonder was a tech. In C3C they finally started making some wonders have resource requirements. Lots of small wonders have building requirements (like Battlefield Medicine needs hospitals) and some things like the Military Academy and the Pentagon require you to have certain military victories.

I would propose splitting Wonders into Feats, Small Wonders, and Great Wonders. Feats would probably have the greatest amount of these, and could not be captured by other civs (as Wonders can now).

Feats would include things like Great Epic (Ramayana, Bible, etc.; could be specific for each Civ) Darwin's Theory, Discovering the New World, Magellan's Expedition, Apollo Program, Battlefield Medicine, Internet, Cure for Cancer, Women's Suffrage, Penicillin, Pasteurization, things that can't really be taken away from you. They would have certain in-game requirements. Magellan's Expedition would go to the first person to complete a solid route across the globe. Trading maps wouldn't suffice, you'd have to use a boat to do it. Discovering a New Continent could also count as a feat. Basically, what happens is your Civ gets a ton of Victory points as well as some sort of bonus, like a free tech, or extra money, or some sort of Golden Age idea. Maybe your prestige increases among other civs too. This way, you can't be invaded by some other Civ and have Magellan's Expedition taken from you. That's just silly.

Small Wonders would be pretty much the same as they are now, only they should all have some sort of requirement based on buildings or events. A lot of the current Great Wonders should become Small Wonders. Like Great Theater (Shakespeare's Theater, Greek Theater, The Colosseum, Broadway, etc.; again, specific for each civ), Wallstreet, Military Academy, Great Cathedral (J.S. Bach's Cathedral, Sistine Chapel, Salsburg Cathedral, Notre Dame, Temple of Artemis, etc.), Great Statue (Colossus of Rhodes, Statue of Liberty, Statue of Constantine, Olmec Heads, etc.), famous artworks, etc.

Great Wonders should be only the things that are unique throughout history. Anything not-so-unique should be a Small Wonder. The Hanging Gardens, Stonehenge, Pyramids, Sphynx, Great Wall, Great Library, Great Lighthouse, Taj Mahal, Library of Congress, Leonardo's Workshop, Hoover Dam, Temple of Qetzalcoatl, Copernicus' Observatory, etc.

This idea is basically just to promote that I don't think that all Wonders should just be a building you create at some point in history. There should be more incentive for a race around the world, or a race to space, or a race to the New World, etc. More options always means more fun.

A very good idea IMO. The concept of wonders should be broader. I have made a suggestion in the "New Wonders Thread" about Scientific Wonders, which would include for instance "Theory of Relativity". These would in effect be individual techs that could only be researched by one civ and they would give certain bonuses, like wonders now. It could also be made so that the tech itself is available to all, but the first to discover it gets a bonus (like philosophy now) or even the first one discovers a different tech than the others, like "Hammurabi's Code" to the first, to others "Code of Laws".

It is also so that one cannot take away your Theory of Evolution. Being the first to do something remains even though your civ would be completely wiped out even!

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I have always questioned the validity of building the GW "Magellan's Expedition". In Civ2 you could even do it as a completely land-locked nation! Wonders and events need to be separated and different advantages given for each.

i agree too.. feats would be good ..
about magellans expedition well.. theory of evoluiton also wasnt a building but a trip around ecvador and to galapagos so wonder should be built but it should do more.. produce like a one warship per few turns or so.. plus that means that you are capable to sale through the ocean waters.. it is silliy though that it can be taken away from you and than your ships dont get a bonus point.. that could be repaired..

One of the wonders I would like to see added is one from CTP: Gutenberg's bible. I would change it to Printing Press (as opposed to a tech) and allow free libraries or something. Even though the PP existed in China far earlier, the Europeans used it much more extensively and it "rocked the world". Literacy in Europe skyrocketed and tech in Europe caught, exceeded and dwarfed every other area in the world!

Sorry to other cultures but this is what did happen, no offense meant. To even it out for you, the Europeans also decided to go on a near-genocidal (and in the case of N. America: Genocidal) conquoring spree that was as barbaric as anything else in history (well almost). But the PP did facilitate the advances that Europe got in technology.