First impressions: Wonders still suck (big time).

[Hail]

I would like to thank the devs for the awesome patch!

 

[Ryika]

Finally found another problem:
Mass Driver gives +1 Range to cities, but the city will still only register units within 2 rings. That means you cannot attack units in the third ring UNLESS there is a unit within the first 2 rings to activate the ranged attack button.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

I found one good thing. The gene vault gives you a free worker if you capture or trade for a city as well. I still think you should get them when the outpost is founded so you can start right away.

 

[Gort]

Finally found another problem:
Mass Driver gives +1 Range to cities, but the city will still only register units within 2 rings. That means you cannot attack units in the third ring UNLESS there is a unit within the first 2 rings to activate the ranged attack button.

Good grief. That was one of the better-sounding wonders as well.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Well, its still useful. You just need to have spotters.

 

[LORD ORION]

Adding my opinions now

Memetwork is totally worth it.
It's under a tech you normally research in every game and the wonder itself has high utility in reducing techs you need to research to gain access to buildings.

Master Control is totally worth it as PAC because the normal PAC strategy just works right into being able to build it at the right time.
AS PAC you take the Supremacy Affinity quest to supplement worker time
You also generally want 3 points in Supremacy for the free roads
Just don't build it too early, aim to have it around the time you start running into an energy deficit from spamming Academies

Gene Vault- Pioneer colonists have trumped any build orders that included this for PAC. (perhaps the only faction that could rush it and not get into serious trouble)

Drone Sphere: It seems like a nice boost for a non-PAC faction that is going to pursue Harmony and Prosperity (like spamming terrascapes)
But that is not an optimal virtue path versus Industry and Cherry picking the best virtues.
Maybe after the Virtues are balanced out a bit more it would be something to always strive for during a Harmony victory.

The rest is crap. Building them puts you behind in generating more output for a city, which always provides a greater benefit...

ESPECIALLY Anything on the outer ring. They're not worth a damn since it they'll never pay for the investment you put into them.
However, one outer ring tech is required for 2 victory conditions, so I'll comment on that Wonder unlock.

Nanothermite (All air, ranged, and city bombard attacks 25% stronger)- Nanotechology Tech is required for Trancendence and Promised Land victory. For Trancendence This means my cities will be building a mind steam and Xenosanctuary before I activate the mindflower.

For promised land, city attack is not going to help me settle earth colonists.

For both victories: If I am in danger of being overrun, the solution is more units while I power research Affinity techs.

Nanothermite is not worth considering, even though it can be built when pursuing those victory conditions.

 

[Gort]

Well, its still useful. You just need to have spotters.

No, that's not what it means. It means you cannot attack at range 3 unless there is ALREADY an enemy unit at range 2. Spotters are irrelevant.

 

[Doviello]

The "spotter" has to be able to hit the target too. If there's a ranger next to the city, hills on the second tile, and the enemy on the third tile, the ranger can't shoot and so neither the city. So you need a bunch of ranged units around the city to be able to hit all the third tiles. OTOH, the AI has no idea how to deal with this wonder, and will stay wandering on the third ring forever, getting shot to dead.

 

[Ryika]

The "spotter" has to be able to hit the target too. If there's a ranger next to the city, hills on the second tile, and the enemy on the third tile, the ranger can't shoot and so neither the city. So you need a bunch of ranged units around the city to be able to hit all the third tiles. OTOH, the AI has no idea how to deal with this wonder, and will stay wandering on the third ring forever, getting shot to dead.

Uhm... what? This still doesn't have anything to do with spotters. Gort already had it right.

If there's only an enemy unit in the third ring, the city won't recognize that city, no matter how many units have vision:

Spoiler :

But as soon as there is a unit within 2 tiles around the city the ranged attack gets activated and can hit units within the third tile:

Spoiler :

 

[Doviello]

Huh. I built this wonder in a very hilled area, somehow i felt like it worked differently for me. I was playing Apollo, settled my city on a bottleneck between a mountain range and a canyon, and i rushed this wonder, im pretty sure i managed to shoot even when there was no enemy unit near the city, since the only 2 tiles leading to my capital were guarded by a marine and a ranger.

But maybe now that i think about it, there could have been an alien unit nearby from the other side, i wasn't paying attention to them since i got them friendly.

But anyway, this sucks. This all suck, all those bugged wonders, in this shallow game, pretty frustrating.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Firaxis has released a hotfix to correct some bugs with wonders:

Winter 2015 Update hotfix now available
Community Announcements - Hinkle2K
The release of the Winter 2015 Update brought a number of changes to Wonders and their effects. This hotfix is intended to correct some bugs which players have experienced.
- Quantum Computer and Promethean now function correctly.
- Ectogenesis Pods now give the correct Food per population.
- New Terran Myth now correctly applies culture to trade routes between different factions.

This is available for the PC version now, with the Mac version to follow in a few days.

 

[Cymsdale]

Interesting, so Promethean really was just broken.

 

[LORD ORION]

Uhm... what? This still doesn't have anything to do with spotters. Gort already had it right.

If there's only an enemy unit in the third ring, the city won't recognize that city, no matter how many units have vision:

Spoiler :

But as soon as there is a unit within 2 tiles around the city the ranged attack gets activated and can hit units within the third tile:

Spoiler :

I haven't tested it myself, but shouldn't you have to use melee units to trigger?
Just thinking if this is related to the inability to declare hostility against a station with ranged.

 

[Ryika]

No, that doesn't make sense. The two things have nothing to do with each other.

 

[LORD ORION]

No, that doesn't make sense. The two things have nothing to do with each other.

It's a target validation problem, it makes perfect sense.

 

[Ryika]

A city does not need spotter units to be able to attack within 2 tiles, how would it suddenly need a spotter to attack within 3 tiles?

The actual problem seems rather obvious - the mechanic that checks for enemies in range and then activates the attack button only checks for aliens within 2 tiles around the city.

If that logic is wrong, then please explain why.

 

[Doviello]

I think Gort and Ryika are right, after a little testing on my old save. Whatever triggers the "can shoot" red button for a city, only does so at range 1 or 2; but once it's triggered, THEN you can pick a target at range 3.

 

[omniclast]

A city does not need spotter units to be able to attack within 2 tiles, how would it suddenly need a spotter to attack within 3 tiles?

The actual problem seems rather obvious - the mechanic that checks for enemies in range and then activates the attack button only checks for aliens within 2 tiles around the city.

If that logic is wrong, then please explain why.

It appears the same thing happens with the Rocket Battery. It was buffed to give +3 orbital strike range (presumably to counter orbital lasers) but you still can't shoot orbital units beyond 2 hexes, as I learned the hard way.

 

[Raider]

Heh, the more I read threads like this, the happier I am for not buying and paying for this game. Subpar product with incompetent post-release support.

 

[wovie]

Heh, the more I read threads like this, the happier I am for not buying and paying for this game. Subpar product with incompetent post-release support.

Pretty harsh criticism considering you haven't played it. It's not a perfect game - I think Civ V is much better at this point. But I do have 100 hours logged and I feel like I got my money's worth.