Best Wonders for Leveraging Qin's UA

[steveg700]

So, Qin's UA gives him a leg-up on building Ancient and Classical wonders.

I rolled him up as a random leader (I pretty much shuffle civ's and maps for every game I play). Might have been my first with him. Not a bad map for a civ in general. A mix of flat and hilly plains and grasslands for the most part. On the other hand, it looks kind of bad from a wonder perspective, because right now the ancient and classical wonders tend to favor cities in desert and water.

Assuming any victory condition is viable (I play on large and huge maps, so domination is a chore, but no matter), large or huge map shuffled, and Emperor or Immortal difficulty, what plan could you come up with to leverage wonders? Is water worth seeking out?

 

[stinkubus]

Pyramids and Colosseum are both immensely valuable and should be a lock when playing China. If you settle enough cities you should be able to find at least one tile of desert. Since you can use builder charges the city's production won't matter much either. I personally don't think any other ancient/classical wonders are worthwhile, but others may disagree.

 

[dnoisette]

I would add Petra to the above list: while you might not have the opportunity to build it every game you play as China, when you do, it'll turn your city into a real powerhouse. Watch out for heavy desert tiles areas, they're what you're after!

 

[UWHabs]

China is best for Petra, because you can take a completely useless desert city and turn it into something worth settling. Combined with being able to put Great Wall pieces on those plain desert tiles, they can give you something. Obviously if you have a desert hill area that's even better, but even just a big flat China can easily get Petra out there. Without that, you need to be able to chop in Petra, which is not always possible for other civs.

 

[Victoria]

Pyramids and colliseum are great for everyone
Petra is hotly contested so if you want it, get it early with some gusto.
If you are wanting to build a few in one city Apadna is of great value
If you want to build industrial zones then the mausoleum can be great as all engineers get a extra charge.
A lot of other wonders are fairly useless or depend on your victory condition but exceptions are forbidden city (historically a must for China) and portala palace. If you can find a good spot Great Zimbabwe is very strong but be warned, you must build a spy to protect it or the AI will steal all your money and break you.

 

[Softly]

Assuming Emperor/Immortal:

Hanging Gardens: Slight synergy with China as extra builder charges make increased population more valuable. Can take it or leave it on this one.

Oracle: China doesn’t really go great person heavy nor do they go faith heavy. Mysticism is also on an awkward part of the civic tree. Wouldn’t rush this one, but if you see it still out there by the medieval era worth snatching. Can be good if you can get a 3-4+ city Jebel Barkal.

Pyramids: Strong in general. Definitely a must get as China. Makes wonders cost one and a third builders instead of one and two thirds.Remember that is also gives +1 charge to existing builders so try to leave all builders with one charge left until you build this wonder.

Stonehenge: Unless you specifically want to go for a religion I wouldn’t recommend.

Great Lighthouse: Not recommended unless playing on island plates map. The requirement to build a harbor + lighthouse first makes the opportunity cost too high for the reward.

Great Library: This one is interesting. Normally this one is trash; as by the time you build two campuses (requirement for recorded history boost) + a library + Great Library, you will already have most if not all of the classical and ancient techs either researched or at least boosted. China can get more benefit from this wonder by (1) getting the wonder itself built faster using worker charges (2) getting stronger eurekas.

Apadana: As China can be good for additional 4-8 envoys over the course of the game. Generic great work slots are also not too bad. This one is worth building.

Colossus: +3gold, +1 great admiral, and +1 trade route along with free trader. At the cost of only 1.33 builders this pays for itself very quickly. Only downside is the need to get a harbor district up. Keep in mind Coastal cities with harbors and a marine wonder create perfect spots for +2 culture theater squares.

Colosseum: Probably the best wonder in the game. If you can get 3-5 cities in range you can almost ignore all other sources of amenities or culture until the renaissance/industrial era.

Petra: Can be a very strong wonder depending on the map and has excellent synergy with China. Most civs need to either build it in a city that is only half dessert or use all of their trade routes (big opportunity cost in early game) to get this one completed. China can plot a city down in the middle of a barren dessert and use builders to complete. If that wasn’t enough, China’s great wall means that even flat dessert tiles can make a great petra city.

Jebel Barkal: Obviously this one is very map dependent. If you don’t have access to iron it is more useful. Unlike the colosseum, Jebel Barkal is not strong enough to influence your city placement, but if you do find a dessert hill in range of 3-4 cities can be worth building. Since faith for China basically equals great people points this one is stronger if you have the Oracle.

Mahabodi Temple: Doesn’t really apply as I don’t recommend founding a religion as China. If you do decide to found a religion can be worth it.

Terracotta Army: Just alright. Most useful for civs like the Aztecs or Scythia which build lots of units early. As China you will be busy early game building builders for wonders and hitting all of your Eureka’s/inspirations.

Mausoleum: Great Admirals aren’t that great in general and don’t have any real synergy with China. While the +1 great engineer is very nice that normally doesn’t come into play until the ren/industrial era. Honestly wouldn’t spend early resources on this one but if you see it still unbuilt by the late medieval era is worth building.


Honestly if you are going for a cultural victory and already have the Pyramids and Apadada doesn’t hurt to build them all. +2 envoys and a ton of tourism for one and a third builder charges is almost worth it in and of itself.