Are Any Wonders Worth Building?

[DarkSchneider]

It seems to me that none of the Wonders of the World really stand out as 'must haves' as they did in the first three Civilizations. Since your empire will be small in the beginning (4-7 towns) they don't get to affect as large an area either.

Are any of the early wonders 'must-haves', I tried for the Oracle, but someone beat me to it, so I tried (and got) the Parthenon after that. It sounds good, but nowhere near as good as the Great library, Sistene Chappel and Pyramids did in the previous Civs.

 

[Nilrim]

Yep sure seems like they have toned down the powerfull ones and added more. I think rather then have you focus on a few you need to build many of them for more impact.

 

[lordqarlyn]

It's been my experience that wonders that help you generate great people faster are worth it, because getting great people really makes life easier.
I found the Taj Mahal to been worth the effort - it puts your civ in a golden age (without expending great people).
My concern with wonderd is if you don't have the production doubling resource, they can take a long, long time (but spawning great engineers can alieviate that).

Don

 

[lordqarlyn]

Yep sure seems like they have toned down the powerfull ones and added more. I think rather then have you focus on a few you need to build many of them for more impact.

That's a possibility but its done the reverse for me, plus the stakes are lower. In previous civs there were must have wonders that if you did not get you would be hard pressed. Now there are only a a very few wonders I feel that way about.

Don

 

[svensven]

Which do you feel that way about? Which are the "must haves" in your opinion.

For me, the only early one is the Pyramids.

Matt

 

[Stuporstar]

I really like the fact that wonders are not so overpowered in this game. Wonder addiction in CivIII was one of the best ways to fail at higher level games. I don't think anyone will find getting out-raced on a wonder a reason to quit a game now, which was a lame thing to do anyway. You can no longer say "I'm going to rush to the GL and just sit back and let the AI do all the research for me."

You'll notice they're easier to produce as well. There's no longer 100 turns to construct the pyramids because they're not so critical to early expansion anymore (I was a pyramid addict; I loved those free granaries). No more free infrastructure means you have to think about it again. Now that I can't get the free granaries/temples/barracks etc. I'm finding the game more fun to play again. It also means you don't have to worry about the AI getting a massively overpowered wonder before you.

Now in CivIV I've primarily used wonders for culture bombing, helping generate great leaders, and just giving my civ those little boosts and nuances. Some of them have more strategic value than others, depending on how you want to play the game. There's enough wonders that every civ will get some, and some you may never bother with at all.

 

[Zhahz]

I like how wonders work and how they're not radically unbalancing. They're huge for great person point generation alone. If they have a decent effect it's just gravy. Many wonder effects may not seem that huge but even subtle things can be very handy in this game, like +1 happy or +1 health, or even the culture point generation.

A few factors might influence your decision to build wonders, such as traits (industrous or not), whether or not you have stone/marble linked up, base production of where you're gonna built, civic choices, overall strategy, etc.

Personally I love em so I'll be looking for ways to build em.

I'm playing as america (industrous) at noble currently and found stone quick (founded 2nd city and hooked it up asap). I got the majority of the early wonders often building them faster than I could build normal buildings, which has lead to a ton of great people.

 

[suspendinlight]

If you found stone/marble or you are industrious, wonders are useful for the culture they generate and the great person points. Any additional effects are just a bonus.

 

[ToadFaerie]

I really like what they did with Wonders. They open up a new strategy, and at the same time each one doesn't offer overpowered effects.

It seems to me that someone could choose to win via Great People: they offer so many boosts that using GP can be one leg of a winning strategy. Wonders give GPP.

Or if one wants to win via culture, you need 3 super cities, and Wonders give lots of culture. The best part is, you don't need any specific Wonder, which means that if you miss out on a few, there's others you can build. No cascading is great.

 

[Rameau's Nephew]

With non-cultural civs, I like to build Stonehenge early. Even if you're not industrious and lack a stone resource, it's pretty cheap. It helps by starting GPP accumulation as early as possible, and giving you a free obelisk (culture-producing) in every city until you discover Calendar.

 

[warpstorm]

I agree on Stonehenge. It expands your borders much faster.

 

[Greek Plunder]

I love the wonders. Everything is so well balanced now, there aren't any truly MUST have, game breaking wonders, like The Great library in Civ 3.

 

[-Sturmgewehr-]

Try the Great Library in Civ 2 lol.

Ya I would agree, there isn't one must have wonder like the Pyramids in Civ III. I personally like Versailles because it allows me to drop a culture bomb on apposing civs. Put that sucker next to an up and coming city next to another civ, then rush it with a great leader. Presto, +10 culture points a turn and now you got one beefy culture city.

Great Leaders are key, no doubt about it- so focus on some wonders that give GPP.

 

[Khaim]

Hah, that's not a culture bomb. Great Artists, now those are culture bombs. Especially when you drop them in a city you just captured; that's really fun. Try it sometime.

I found that having access to stone/marble is invaluble to building wonders. You can sneak in a few without them, but if you want to seriously build wonders you need both. A game I'm playing, I have access to both resources and am Industrial. My capital has gone wonder crazy, and has 2/3 or more of the wonders. It's currently at +258 culture/turn and +52 gpp/turn. I've culture bombed three times; once to stabalize a chokepoint border, once to claim a whole lot of territory before the AI could settle it, and once to solidify two cities I just captured. My capital also has an academy and a great scientist speacialist (which was probably a waste). Oh, and I have two shrines, and had a golden age. That's, let's see, nine great people so far, and my capital is still churning them out.

 

[ombak]

I like the Sistine Chapel in theory, for cultural games, but it is very expensive.

The Oracle is not too expensive and I always try to build it.

 

[Shillen]

The point of getting Wonders in the early game is the great people points. You can't afford to work specialists early on so getting an early Wonder will drastically increase the number of great people you get throughout the game. I like the engineering wonders, so I can get great engineers and get more wonders therefore getting even more great people.

 

[Harv72b]

It's all about the Great People...man, is that a huge boost. And don't knock the Great Artists, either...have a few handy when you go to war, so you can move them into a newly conquered city, create a great work of art, and presto--4,000 culture points & no worries about revolt.

For that reason, I think the Parthenon is a must-have wonder in this game.

Broadway/Hollywood/Rock and Roll are nice to have towards the end of the game, especially if you need something to trade for aluminum/uranium/oil.

The Hagia Sophia is relatively expensive, but it's real nice to get your workers going faster.

The Hanging Gardens rock in Civ IV.

The Pentagon is nice as it comes along right around the time you'll be re-equipping your army with modern armor & mech inf.

Agreed, though--I don't think there are any truly monstrous wonders in this game (which I like), at least compared to some of the wonders in earlier Civ games.

 

[Wlauzon]

From what I see so far - most, if not all - are "useful".

I have not seen many (if any) "must haves" so far.

I try to build as many as I can for the great people points, but it is not a disaster if I don't get it - unlike in CIV3 where if one civ got a lot of the wonders, it was game breaking.