Early Wonders

[Sukenis]

I can never seem to get the early great wonders. If I get 1 I am happy (normally the leftovers) and I think that building 2 is the best that I have done so far. Can anyone give me tips on getting them?

I guess you will need to know the way I am currently playing as well...

Huge maps
Raging barbarians
Various world styles (normally not pangia)
Various civs
Monarch difficulty
Only autosave/reload cheat when it is a must to survive in a game (ROP attacked and my 4 cities are razed)

How do you (thus can I) get more early wonders?

 

[SirJethro]

Remember...on Monarch, each CIV starts out at least as strong as you, and even has some advantages. If you are playing against more than just a few CIVs, there is going to be a whole lot of competition for just a few wonders. Winning one or two of them is great...to do better is somewhat unlikely. You best bet is to pick one you want most (and a backup) and focus like crazy on them and just ignore the others. Without your full attention you won't win them unless by a shield cascade when you lose the ones you are after.

 

[Allemand]

At Monarch level on a huge map I just go for the Pyramids (if I have a large continent) and the Great Lighthouse (unless it's a panagea map).

The first or second city has to be primed to build the Pyramids, meaning send it some units and workers from another city, build a temple and go for the Pyramids. The surrounding area should be mined as much as possible very quickly, but don't take any workers from the city because you lose time with the recovery. At some point you may have to decide whether or not to switch to a colloseum then go back to the Pyramids. After switching to Republic, you can rush the colloseum and it will allow you to put more citizens to work, maybe decreasing the time to build the Pyramids.

You usually have a liitle more time to do the Great Lighthouse, but don't wait too long on that, either. Getting this wonder gives you a giant edge on most maps.

I never try for anything else because it ruins my expansion. Some people like the Great Library (which can be useful), but at Monarch level I'm usually ahead of the other AIs in the tech race up to that point and don't see any great need for it. Switching from the Pyramids to the Great Library is a neat trick, if you want it, but I think the Pyramids give more benefit.

The other ancient wonders are not worth the effort, for me.

 

[Toastedzergling]

If you really want those wonders, (IMO unnecessary) you can try restart your game over and over till you got a nice spot, (fress water, food bonus, shielded grasslands etc). The first wonder I want is the colossus (that is if you are on a coast of course) it costs only 200 shields, next one is the Pyramid, if you can't build it, you can switch to the great library (research 100% to literacy. And finally you can give it a try for Hanging Gardens.

 

[Mindless Reason]

Toastedzergling-If you really want those wonders, (IMO unnecessary) you can try restart your game over and over till you got a nice spot...

Starting the game over and over till you find a nice spot?? What fun would that be? I'd rather play it as is, even if my starting location is all desert

 

[hbdragon88]

I have discovered on this board that on Monarch the AI can beat you in techs everywhere, so my strategy of getting wonders off in chieftain isn't going to work.

I figure the best way would be to reserach the lines of tech that lead to the most important early wonders (i.e. Masonary, Map Making, Literature) and buy some techs.

It's all I can offer, and it may not be correct.

 

[WildFire]

It would be a very big help to always get the Great Library if you know of a couple other civs because then you can take their techs. I almost always attempt to go after map making and literature like dragon88 said. Then iron working...

 

[Tholish]

Go for the cheap wonders first--at least you'll get them, and they are so essential to cultural competitiveness. And don't build wonders in your capitol: use a nearby shield heavy city for that, and if somebody beats you to a wonder you can always switch to palace to hold the shields until you can get another wonder tech. When you have a city working on palace where you don't want it, it can be worth almost anything to get a wonder tech so you don't have to waste it. And then you will learn the importance of going for cheap wonders first.

 

[Zachriel]

I rarely build Ancient Wonders. However, one technique is to use a "population boom." In the builder city (usually the capital), increase the population through the addition of immigrant population and with adjustments to the Luxury Slider.

http://www.zachriel.com/gotm9/bc1000-Pyramids.htm

In this example from Cleopatra, Queen of Thebes (GOTM9), the population of the Egyptian capital was ramped up to eight with the addition of two workers and Luxuries of 30%. As soon as the Great Pyramids were completed, Thebes produced a Settler to take the pressure off the city's resources, allowing Luxuries to be decreased to a more reasonable level.



(Also note how Science was set to 70% and money to 0% as part of a crash program to get off the Island of Egypt.)

 

[jhigham]

What I would like to know is how you have 600g at 1000BC! I'm always short on cash until I get out of despotism.

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by jhigham
What I would like to know is how you have 600g at 1000BC! I'm always short on cash until I get out of despotism.

There isn't much to buy while in Despotism.

I went back and looked at 1950BC. Gold is set on 80%, Science on 20%. Thebes (pop3) is making 5gpt, with all three towns making a total of 10gpt. There are 80 turns from 4000BC to 1000BC, so I only needed to save an average of 7 1/2 gpt. Gold was kept high until 1000BC when the scientific "crash program" began. Luxuries kept creeping up as Thebes grew inordinately large, until 1000BC, then dropped again as the city spun off Settlers.

(By the way, the Temple only cost 1gpt. Turns out I had built a second Temple in 1350BC at Heliopolis for a total budget outlay of 2gpt.)

 

[Sukenis]

In my current game I had over 1000 gold by that time. If you have heavy Barbarians and find a good deal of tech in villages, getting 600 gold at that time is very easy to do.

 

[spotonshirt]

I belive the largest amount of ancient wonders i was able to get in monarch was 6. Of course thats in occ, with size 12 capital in first 40 turns, so that really helps out. But otherwise, it is not healthy to bid for too many early wonders, unless they are must haves like pyramids in Huge map, or lighthouse for island maps. Or your timely golden age. Otherwise, it is not wise to put a curve in your growth rate to get 2+ wonders.