Best Ancient Wonder

[acidsatyr]

great engineers overrated?? great prophets better ??? bwahaha rofl

 

[Caradoc]

If you are Spiritual, the Pyramids just about guarantee a victory. As soon as I find Stone, I drop a city right on top of it and start building them. No time to build a Worker, dig a Quarry, and lay a Road to hook it up.

 

[Elmstr]

pyramids
stonehenge is pretty handy too in the beginning, so your culture rises in all the city's

 

[Gherald]

great engineers overrated?? great prophets better ??? bwahaha rofl

Read the "great profits" thread lately?

 

[KabukiJo]

I prefer the pyramids, but don't underestimate the ability of Stonehenge (which is pretty cheap btw) to get you an early great prophet. He can usually get you Code of Laws (courthouses and Confucianism are all really good in my book) or another religion.

 

[luckynick]

I prefer the pyramids, but don't underestimate the ability of Stonehenge (which is pretty cheap btw) to get you an early great prophet. He can usually get you Code of Laws (courthouses and Confucianism are all really good in my book) or another religion.

courthouses certainly but don't expect founding confu often on emperor or above as AI tend to oracle-slingshot it, plus you need both priesthood, monotheism and writting to get it. (if you miss monotheism your Great prophet will discover it instead of CoL)

anyway as for wonders, i agree that pyramids rocks as stonehenge for non creative civ, and GL for all.
Oracle is great but on emperor AI will have it most of the time unless you take the religious path early on. And even do not expect to get CoL as you will need BW too so you should better slingshot metal casting if you successfully get oracle. Usefull for industrious civs and less hard if you begin with mining+mysticism (mean india)

 

[Lord Gideon]

I don't know if this is ancient, but if your playing an archipelago map and your financial the Colossus gurantees your taking at least three commerce off every water tile.

 

[The 777 Hoax]

The Oracle... me like techs.

 

[onedreamer]

Pyramids. Long-term benefits are much greater than say with Stonehenge or the Oracle.

The Oracle does have a long term benefit as it will most certainly let you found a religion, and being the founder of a religion is a bigger advantage than the Pyramids.

 

[MrCynical]

Pyramids without question here. Representation is a very useful civic in the early stages, particularly at high difficulty levels. You get a boost to great engineer production for the entire game which practically guarantees you more wonders in the future. he culture is just icing on the cake.

Much as the Oracle is nice, if I follow that tech route early enough to get it I've probably founded a religion anway. Going for masonry for the Pyramids gives you a good shot at Judaism anyway.

 

[Kalleyao]

Best would be pyramids.

 

[jerVL/kg]

The Hanging Gardens is one of the most underrated Wonders in the game. Big health boost, and an extra population point for each of your cities. It's like Insta-Grow, a Civ4 Chia Pet.

Pyramids is probably the best, but it's rare that I even try for it. I do like the idea of Pyramids + GE + rush Great Library. That does sound like a boost.

I also play lots of island maps with tons of coastal cities, so Great Lighthouse/Colossus is a combo I often shoot for. Hard to get both on Prince and above, though.

If I'm not industrious & have no stone or marble nearby, and know I can only shoot for one early wonder, it would be Stonehenge (if I'm non-Creative, and have no Calendar resources nearby) or the Parthenon (since I suck at managing GP's, it's nice to guarantee a steady stream early on.) Then, shoot for THG.

 

[afireinside]

best idea on hard difficulties...

dont plan on getting a ancient wonder.

stonehedge is a waste of production time.

oracle, you cant use it to do cs so its not realy that worth it.

Pyraminds is the only good one i think, but only if you have stone and a forest to chop.

the comp has increased produciton and research so it can just snag wonders from you. Dont u just love that feeling when u hear the coin sound and u cant continue working on a wonder. In a real game u cant reload, so wonders really are to hard to fit into a concrete strategy.

Work on finance and early expansion instead of a woner which might not have a profound effect.

 

[Nials]

Read the "great profits" thread lately?

Would you please link it? I had a shot at searching with no luck.

Oh and Pyramids definitely for an ancient wonder!

 

[Chamaedrys]

I build stonehenge and the oracle in my capital city. I usually play as Bismarck so I can afford it.

 

[Shaka II]

Pyramids if I have stone and forests. If Pyramids, then I use the GE for the GL.

If I am Philosophical, I may go for Oracle to get CoL, and use the Great Prophet to get CS.

Other than that the others are all situational and level dependent. If I have a powerful city (Capital) on the coast, I'll make a go for Colossus or even Great Lighthouse. Hanging Gardens is very nice too and one the AI doesn't put priority on, so it can usually be built. The Great Lighthouse is a bit harder to build before the AI does, but Colossus is another that the AI doesn't put priority on.

 

[acidsatyr]

The Oracle does have a long term benefit as it will most certainly let you found a religion, and being the founder of a religion is a bigger advantage than the Pyramids.

LOL!!

Founding a religion is a waste of time on emperor and above. What do you get? Maybe some money from shrine (peanuts compared to resources you loose by going for that strategy).. And you get to piss of your neighbors....
Now pyramids - you get representation without constitution, univ. suff. withouth democracy, you get police state without fascism AND if you have pyramids it means that ai doesn’t...

 

[Sisiutil]

I usually only build the Hanging Gardens if I have to--i.e. I'm not playing as an Expansive leader with that handy +2 health, and I've got growing cities near flood plains.

 

[Gherald]

Would you please link it? I had a shot at searching with no luck.

Great Profits (Prophets)

 

[ownedbyakorat]

There is a reason the Pyramids are a hella more expensive than any of the other Ancient wonders.