Do you ever build Angkor Wat?

[I_qua_I]

I don't. I remember when vanilla first came out (before patches) and it came with a whopping 75% reduction for culture and gold costs of acquiring new tiles in all cities. This was admittedly too strong (especially with France.) I'm glad it was changed but does anyone else feel it is now useless? Now, I never build it even when I want to for role-playing/aesthetic reasons. It seemed very underwhelming the few times I did give the G&K version a shot. Anyway, I'm curious what other people think of the wonder as it currently is. Do you build it? Does it have it's niche uses that I'm just not familiar with? Or am I just not appreciating what it has to offer?

I'm really a fan of the way the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus operates. I like how it is tied/relates to particular resources. (I like this because, among other things, it can sometimes encourage one to build it in a city other than the capital. (I currently HATE how capitals always seem to end up as this one big hodgepodge of all the wonders, and believe there should be more situationally optimal wonders like this.))

Perhaps a slight buff to Angkor Wat could follow suit and provide +2 culture on every stone tile around the city where it's built or, to echo the Goddess of Festivals/Religious Idols pantheons +2 culture and +2 faith. I think this wouldn't be too overpowered considering it comes with education now and fits thematically. It might also help to reduce the wonder hogging in the capitals.

 

[nefloyd]

It wasn't 75% in all cities, it was always just 75% in the city that built it. Going from that to 25% in all cities is actually a nice buff for it, unless you were playing with less than 3 cities.

However I never build it because the AI always gets it.

 

[Esperr]

Its to out of the way now to really bother going for.

 

[Aaron90495]

I build it occasionally as America, because if I want to found cities away from my main cities, I can buy up a ton of tiles at once. Otherwise, I don't build it.

 

[Yzman]

I never really build it.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

i never build it. now there is a pantheon you can get to expand quicker plus the tradition opener. it seems like expansive overkill. maybe if they dropped the culture cost reduction and buffed the gold cost reduction i would try and build it but otherwise its turns lost on something more directly necessary. then again America would gobble everything up so cheaply it might be too powerful.

maybe its good for OCC if you need to really expand but the tradition opener generally provides enough for 30+ pop city.

 

[Bibor]

Angkor Wat must be the most useless wonder out there. Perhaps I'll play a Russia game with Tradition and Angkor just to see what it does

 

[Thander]

The only use I found for it was to do that "Buy 1000 Tiles" achievement faster. =)

 

[HelloGoodbye123]

Contrary to popular belief, I think it is a great wonder, heavily expanding your borders, what do borders do for you?

get closer to the lux/strategic resource,

what else do borders do?
if you got great wall/samurai.. a lot of comfort space during wars..

what else?

lets you expand your "sight" so secret around the corner attacks by the enemy dont work as well if you can see them coming 8 tiles away into the sea..

of course this isnt no notredame, no great library and such, but i wouldnt go as far as calling it the worst wonder, it does have its nice benefits

 

[Harv72b]

Like nefloyd said, it seems like on anything above Prince the AI is going to nab it every time anyway, so I generally don't bother unless I'm going for a new culture record on settler or something.

In theory, it could be a very powerful wonder on a huge map with fewer civs, as it times out right around the time you'd be hitting your second round of expansion & can help to firm up borders/grab extra resources. But in practice it's not often worth departing from my normal tech route in order to attempt it, and even then often failing to get it built in time.

 

[Peacemongerer]

Favorite wonder when the game game out, haven't built it once since Gods & Kings came out. When I unlock education, I'm usually building Great Mosque or Alhambra. If I want big borders, I've usually invested in tradition instead because of the +15% on wonders perk that's only 1 policy away. 25% just isn't worth it.

 

[aguliondew]

When I played a great engineer focused immortal game I build it. Otherwise it is not something I would focus on.

 

[smallfish]

Angkor Wat, Sistine Chapel and the Louvre are incredibly useful midgame wonders to have.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I rarely buld it now that it requires Education because it just comes too late to be really useful. If I don't have anything more important to build I'll sometimes get it just for the GE point.

 

[Civciv5]

I sometimes just build it because all other wonders are already completed.

 

[GreedysMaximus]

I can think of two possible cases:

1)You're OCC'ing, getting to these distant luxurie tiles(fast)-which you can't buy- is pretty darn important imo.

2) Some crucial CS in you strategy requests AW and you don't have the gold to bribe that CS to your side.

 

[KillingMeSoftly]

I rarely build the Angkor Wat. Sometimes I'll slap it up in a city that doesn't have anything useful to build, just to see if I can get something.

I do like to get it when I play as America, just for the silly double discount on buying tiles. I also very rarely go Tradition as America so it's a nice boost to picking up all those tiles faster than normal.

 

[Lyoncet]

AW is just so riddled with flaws it's hard to know where to begin. Its tech path is full of excellent wonders that even up to Immortal are pretty manageable if you play well. You already get your good tiles quickly if you settle smart, and with investment of a couple hundred gold here or there if you really want to hurry it up. If you're not playing tall, you can't work the extra tiles anyways; if you are playing tall, you have the Tradition opener, which is way better, well more than enough on its own, and doesn't force you to invest a bunch of hammers. And the bonus from AW is really small for something as unimportant as popping bad tiles. So by ignoring a bunch of good wonders, you can get crap tiles you can't work a little bit faster. Oh joy.

 

[Furycrab]

I don't think it justifies it's cost.

By the time you get it, the aggressive expansion is slowing down. I think in G&K they actually made it worst though...

They lowered the cost of buying tiles in general, which is great, but also means that you'll need that many more tiles to justify the hammer cost.

I'm confused as to why someone said the AI gets it... For me it's almost always that wonder that sits in my possible building list for way too long. I could usually get it if I really wanted it... but it's terrible <.<

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Perhaps a slight buff to Angkor Wat could follow suit and provide +2 culture on every stone tile around the city where it's built or, to echo the Goddess of Festivals/Religious Idols pantheons +2 culture and +2 faith. I think this wouldn't be too overpowered considering it comes with education now and fits thematically. It might also help to reduce the wonder hogging in the capitals.

I think every religious bulding which requires a belief shuld have one wonder associated with it. Terracotta Army could use an improvement as it is just old Stonehenge, but later and more expensive, and the Hagia Sophia is very situational because it also increases the cost of all further prophets.
So my suggestions to improve some wonders would be:

Terracotta Army: Additional free Pagoda (or Monastery)
Hagia Sophia: Free Cathedral instead of free Temple
Angkor Wat: Free Monastery (or Pagoda)

Granted, the Monastery can either be pretty weak or very strong depending on the presence of Wine and Incense, but at the very least youll get +2 and out of it. Giving a free Monastry to Terracotta Army and a free Pagoda for Angkor Wat would be better for balance but make less sense flavor wise.