Great Wonders Elimination Thread

[hhhhhh]

Since I didn't vote on Friday I assume I can vote a bit early now.

Pyramids, Oracle, Kilwa Kisiwani, Mausoleum and Forbidden City really stands out.
And for me Big Ben is next (I like it but the placement requirement - bank and river - is a bit high.)
Then Temple of Artemis, Potala Palace, Colosseum. The rest are better downvoted.

Big Ben [20] (23 - 3) No. 6 in my mind, but as I said, the placement requirement - bank and river - is a bit high.
Pyramids [28] (27+1) Given how easy it is to get this wonder and how profitable it is, it's definitely No.1. If I can have only one wonder in my game, I'd like it to be this one. I got 40+ builders before industrial era and without Pyramids it will be a lot less effective and way more expensive.

Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [14]
Eiffel Tower [5]
Forbidden City [25]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [16]
Pyramids [28]
Ruhr Valley [8]
Statue of Liberty [3]
Temple of Artemis [21]

 

[lotrmith]

I've made a case that others have reiterated about Ruhr, so I won't double down (it's ready to be on its way out anyways), but to respond to the "production is King" argument.. that's true. But there's also the startup cost. If production is King, Ruhr is Prince John. You wouldn't spend gold to buy a Stock Exchange.


Instead I will level the field between Artemis and Colosseum. First, it is my experience that the AI does little to no "planning". That is, if a wonder is eligible to be built, it may build it. If it's not eligible, the AI doesn't go out of its way to settle somewhere or build requisite infrastructure to make it available. As a consequence, Artemis often goes early because all it requires is a single camp, which the AI are likely to have as standard improvements. The Colosseum, on the other hand, in my experience, doesn't go that often nor nearly as early... because the AI have to decide to build an Entertainment District first, then decide to build an Arena, to finally "discover" that they can build the Colosseum.

Secondly, as its available so early and is fairly competitive with the AI, you have to sacrifice production and chops (when chops are worth less due to low tech advances, and likely before you even have Magnus) at a time when you should be making Settlers. Colosseum by comparison is cheap with lower opportunity cost production wise. The same city producing Artemis early or Colosseum 50 turns later would have a net production opportunity cost lower with Colosseum than with Artemis, as you'd be able to build Settlers more when they matter most, and chopping the Colosseum vs chopping Artemis (you essentially must chop to complete Artemis) gets you so much more production thanks to further tech advances and Magnus. And this is *including* chopping in the ED and Arena.

Third, Artemis restricts you from harvesting some bonus resources... particularly Deer but not limited to Cattle and Sheep which you may want to harvest ahead of District or other Wonder placement but otherwise are compelled to keep for the Amenity.

Finally, Colosseum just provides on average far more amenities (and culture, which Artemis does not provide at all) that the food and housing of Artemis just do not make up for.

It would be categorical nonsense if Colosseum was eliminated before Artemis.


Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [15]
Eiffel Tower [5]
Forbidden City [25]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [16]
Pyramids [28]
Ruhr Valley [8]
Statue of Liberty [3]
Temple of Artemis [18]

 

[Archon_Wing]

Upvote: Statue of Liberty. 4 (3+1) It's 20% of a win condition. It doesn't matter if it's only one win condition if it's the only wonder in the game that could instantly end the game. Yes it probably won't happen but no other wonder can physically do that. (well ok, Potala and that Temple can, but that's closer to impossible)

Mistiming it is not an argument. That's just user error. You can always build it to within 1 turn and save it for when you need it. Perhaps finish it after a WC vote if you feel you'll lose points. The other big thing about it is that lets you pursue a Diplomatic Victory if you weren't going for it in the first place. Let's say you only have 5-6 points from passively voting and the lead has 10. You're going to win some kind of contest or aid request early. Investing a little in SoL can let you transition early and you can just use some junk coastal city because it is low competition.

You have to realize that it's possible to passively pursue a DV without specifically aiming for it since you can earn points without really investing anything as long as you guess the WC votes right. So if anything goes wrong with your primary win, DVs are not a bad alternative.

It's not like by that point you can't see which wonders are being made across the world and their progress on it.

So sure, it's not the most powerful wonder, but the potential shouldn't be understated.

Btw, I know Bolshoi's dead, but while we're on the subject of mistiming, I'd like to point out that's not really a thing there. The Civics tree is incredibly linear compared to the science tree so the only hazard is picking up stuff like Naval Tradition or maybe Divine Right/Reformed Church (though Divine Right can be gotten for that wonder card). And barring all that, there's no real loss in researching the civics before Bolshoi finishes. You have so much time to finish it, that it's really not an excuse.That being said, Bolshoi comes on a very useless leaf civic, which does suck.


Downvote: Ruhr Valley. 5 (8-3) There's not much more room for it anymore. If we get rid of Statue of Liberty, a wonder that only works for 1 win condition but gives 20% of it, then Ruhr Valley, which biggest accomplishment is giving 20% more production to a single city and realistically only does anything for 1 condition, then I think it doesn't deserve to be here anymore.

Yes, production is important, but by the time Ruhr Valley comes along, having big production in one city rarely helps in any condition outside of science. Religious and Culture Victories are looking for faith and culture, and domination victories are more about mobility and deployment. Hardbuilding units makes no sense if you have to send them halfway across the world-- you're better off buying or upgrading units closest to the battlefield. And even if you need to build ships or something, military cards are such a huge bonus that you don't need a high production city for it.

Now it's natural to think of some roundabout way of saying "well if this city has more production, then I can use it to run faith/gold projects or build settlers." Except that's just roundabout, and you could have done all that without building this. That's more like a rationalization.

It is Science Victories where Ruhr benefits, since you cannot simply buy out Science Projects (though you can buy spaceports which kinda makes it overrated). But I will say the 20% does apply to the Royal Society Boost. Of course you'd have anywhere between 60% to 85% in modifiers already so that 20% is somewhat less than 20%, though in all fairness we should consider the bonus in mines too.

This leaves Diplomatic Victories Of course, why? Well, I guess you could build it to build the Statue of Liberty faster. But doesn't that make it behind the SoL?

In some cases I will use a GE to rush Ruhr and time it so I research Economics by the time it ends so I can build Big Ben faster by a few turns. I think that is useful, but does that make it a top wonder, or just a filler wonder? I lean towards the later

Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [15]
Eiffel Tower [5]
Forbidden City [25]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [16]
Pyramids [28]
Ruhr Valley [5]
Statue of Liberty [4]
Temple of Artemis [18]

 

[Jewelrunna]

Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [16]
Eiffel Tower [5]
Forbidden City [25]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [16]
Pyramids [28]
Ruhr Valley [5]
Statue of Liberty [1]
Temple of Artemis [18]

Colosseum [16] (15 + 1): There is absolutely no way this wonder should be below Potala Palace. There is no good reason why this wonder should be far below Temple of Artemis, when it fills a similar function. The yields that this wonder gives you are completely insane, the opportunity cost isn't all that high since the AI doesn't often build Entertainment Complexes (they're generally capped out on amenities and don't need them), and even if you miss out on it (which isn't too often if you prioritize it) the consequence of having a Entertainment Complex isn't as bad as people make it out to be, since this forum seems to devalue the positives of having surplus amenities. It's a top five wonder. Easy.

Statue of Liberty [1] (4 - 3): This wonder is good for exactly one victory condition, it's secondary effect is completely worthless, and the noteworthy bonus it gives you can actually be eroded if the AI gangs up on you. Granted, if you're playing the diplo game it's not hard to avoid that situation, but it's nonetheless worth mentioning. Frankly, I'm surprised it's still around when Mahabodhi Temple and Christo Redentor have been already knocked out.

 

[enKage]

Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [16]
Eiffel Tower [5]
Forbidden City [25]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [16]
Pyramids [28]
Ruhr Valley [2]
Statue of Liberty [2]
Temple of Artemis [18]


SoL+1
It is 20% of winning condition. And has pefect timing. Together with Orshaghaz's favors (or even without if you are lucku in reolutions) it is +9 diplopoints to win game first modern congress (or at least reach 19/20 to win with world's fair). None other wonder has such a huge impact on any victory condition.
It is far stronger than Mahabodji with only 2 points and Cristo, which not only is not decisive for tourism victory, but also deendent on 2 other wonders.
20% toward winning condition vs 20% hammersi in 1 city. Hard choice

Should stay longer than Ruhr and Eiffel, because these 3 are pretty certain to be eliminated next


Ruhr -3
Not even a percantage of winning condition, maybe somehow usefull in science victory, but spaceports should be bought, projects chopped or worker rushed, speeding up spaceship via amundssenand chops.
begone, it does not deserve to stay so long.
I would rather use dams, aqueducts and CH around rivers, and floodplains are usual placement of industrial zones and floodplain cities are poor with mines.

 

[bbbt]

For all the talk of DLC power creep for Leaders (see the top of the dom victory list for example), wonders seem to have been the opposite. Most of these remaining are OG wonders, and a lot of the earliest eliminated were expansion/DLC ones.

Forbidden City [26] 25+1 there's so many bonuses in the policy cards, the additional flexibility to add one is amazing.

Ruhr Valley [Eliminated] 2 -3 - Debating between SoL and Ruhr for elimination, and going with Ruhr. I like Ruhr better from a city builder perspective, but Ruhr's impact is really just limited to one city, its placement is harder, and for me it has much less of an impact with SV being pretty focused on gold now (Reyna, Builders). Plus everything else on the list has at least more of a broader effect (even if it's just the aoe amenities from Temple of Artemis) beyond just one city.

Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [16]
Eiffel Tower [5]
Forbidden City [26]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [16]
Pyramids [28]
Statue of Liberty [2]
Temple of Artemis [18]

 

[monikernemo]

Voted late yesterday, but voting at usual timing today.

Big Ben [20]
Colosseum [16]
Eiffel Tower [2] (5 - 3)
Eiffel is an okay wonder, but its timing is just awkward for CV.
One would typically rush top half of the tech tree to unlock flight, radio and computers and only unlock Eiffel only much later.
Unlocking Eiffel obsoletes walls (if Wall tourism is indeed a thing), which poses abit of a dilemma here.
Forbidden City [26]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [17] (16 + 1)
Again, upvoting Potala Palace. More useful in slower victory types (i.e. science, diplo and culture) due to the power of diplo slots late game.
Pyramids [28]
Statue of Liberty [2]
Temple of Artemis [18]

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

Big Ben [21] I do think this is a better Wonder than the Forbidden City. Most of the time, an extra Wildcard slot is just used for an additional Economic policy, until the very late game when you unlock a ton of new wild card policies, but by that time, your tier 4 government has more than enough slots (especially wild card slots) that the value of an economic slot and a wildcard slot do not differ much. Beside the extra slot, Big Ben gives you a ton of gold, gold per turn, and great merchant points, while the FC only gives 5 culture.
Colosseum [16]
Eiffel Tower [2]
Forbidden City [26]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [17]
Pyramids [28]
Statue of Liberty [ELIMINATED] I think after Ruhr is gone, we can all agree this is the worst one left. Its loyalty "bonus" is clearly harmful, especially when you consider that naval invasion always struggles to establish a loyalty foothold on a new continent. This wonder just straight up invites your opponents to come and keep your cities without loyalty pressure. I mean the AIs are too dumb to exploit that, but that is still possible.
Temple of Artemis [18]

 

[TCBB]

Eiffel Tower [2-3] ELIMINATED. Great wonder. But as we discovered in the last elimination thread, the culture meta rewards early build-up of tourism – making Eiffel a win-more wonder most of the time.

Temple of Artemis [19] (18+1) Just to engage with the comments of @lotrmith, which I think are broadly correct but come to the wrong conclusion – or, at least, to the unnecessary conclusion of a downvote against Temple of Artemis. It's right that the AI doesn't 'plan ahead' with their wonders: if they build the Pyramids, it's because they've 'accidentally' acquired a desert tile and now realise they meet the tile requirements; if they build Temple of Artemis, it's because they've 'accidentally' built a camp; if they build Colosseum, it's because they've built an Entertainment Complex and Arena; etc. etc. All this is very correct. But where I disagree is in the significance of this. In my experience, the AI doesn't grab Temple of Artemis particularly fast in, say, 7/10 games. My best guess is this: we've all seen AI cities looking barren and empty because they've neglected tile improvements; so this makes me think that, on Deity, the AI uses up the free builders they start with but then neglect builders for the most part; so if, by chance, they don't build a camp with one of those initial 6 charges, they're completely locked out of building Temple of Artemis. Hence why, in my experience, Artemis is often there waiting to be built in the late classical or medieval eras: it's complete pot-luck whether the AI randomly choose to build a camp or not, and most of the time they do not build a camp. However, the difference with Colosseum is that the AI LOVES to build Entertainment Complexes. I've regularly seen them plop Entertainment Complexes down in multiple cities during the Classical Era; and what this means, of course, is that they're maximising the chance of 'accidentally' realising that they can build the Colosseum. Now, I don't think the Colosseum should be downvoted necessarily; but I do believe that it's wrong to imply/state that the AI builds Temple of Artemis more often than Colosseum, which is not something I've ever encountered.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [16]
Eiffel Tower [ELIMINATED]
Forbidden City [26]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [17]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [19] (18+1)

 

[Noble Zarkon]

capturing MT is not particularly useful nor compelling

Just a reminder:-

Wonders are to be assessed in light of their construction costs, tech requirements, spacing requirements, and so on, rather than how glad you'd be to get it for free (e.g. as a result of conquest).

Decisions are getting harder now!!

Forbidden City [27] 26+1 Comes quite a bit earlier than Big Ben and you can use it to run an economic card if you want.

Colosseum [13] 16 -3 It's a good wonder with some unfortunate prereqs - I think it's time has come.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [13]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [17]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [19]

 

[CrabHelmet]

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [14]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [27]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [17]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [16]

A comparison of the Colosseum and the Temple of Artemis:

The Colosseum provides +2 Amenities and +2 Culture for every City in a 6 tile radius. Theoretically, excluding islands etc., this caps out at 9 cities. Realistically, I reckon I probably average around 6-7, getting 9 is hard. I'll call it 6.5 for clarity. That's 13 Amenities and 13 Culture. Not bad.

The Temple of Artemis provides +1 Amenity for each Camp, Pasture, and Plantation in a 4 tile radius. I think this ends up typically providing me about 6 Amenities when I choose to build the ToA, so I'll call that 6 Amenities. It also provides +4 Food and +3 Housing. Also pretty good. The Food and Housing and Amenities really compliment each other here - this is tantamount to saying: this City gets one extra District, whereas the Colosseum doesn't give you the Housing or growth to do this necessarily. However... +12 Culture is probably better, in terms of raw impact. So, pound for pound, Colosseum is winning this one.

But... that's not all there is to a Wonder. What are the opportunity costs here? The Temple of Artemis is unlocked at Archery. This is a really key early tech that almost everyone should be picking up fairly quickly anyway. So, the Temple of Artemis isn't taking you out of the way at all. The Colosseum is unlocked at Games & Recreation. This isn't innately top priority, most of the things unlocked here aside from Colosseum are pretty useless. Everyone is obviously going to gun for Political Philosophy and extremely rarely deviate before this. You would go to Games & Recreation next, but if you're going for a Religious Victory you're heading for Theology next, and there's some advantage to picking up Military Tradition etc earlier if you're being militarily pressed and so on. However, the Colosseum gives you so much culture the deviation isn't so bad as you'll more than make up for it, and if you're desperately needing Military Tradition you probably aren't in a state to be building Wonders anyway. I think the Temple of Artemis is marginally more accessible here, if only because it's relevant in 5/5 Victory Conditions, whereas the Colosseum I don't often build during Religious Victories.

What about production costs? The Temple of Artemis is 180 Production. However, you do need a Camp to take advantage of it... but you probably were going to do this anyway to get the Inspiration for Craftsmanship, I don't think this is a real cost as you'd use that Builder that way regardless. The Colosseum is 400 Production. You also need an Arena. That's 150 Production. You then need the Entertainment Complex on top - the production for this is variable, but I find usually around 120ish Production by the time I would be usually building this.

Would I build an Arena +Entertainment Complex anyway? Absolutely not, +2 Amenity +1 Culture is tantamount to useless. An Amenity support 4 Citizens. A District requires 3 Citizens. So you're using up one of your District Slots (cost 3 citizens) to get 2 Amenity (gain 4 citizens)... except you don't even get the growth to push up to that 4th Citizen, you don't necessarily get the Housing, and you sunk a huge amount of Production to get there which a single Citizen will take an incredibly long time to pay off. I literally never build an Arena except to build the Colosseum. So I'd say net the Colosseum is costing 670-700 Production. That's a lot compared to other Wonders in the same era!

What are the hidden opportunity costs; or: how crucial is it you are building other stuff? Here, the Temple of Artemis is the loser because it has to compete with Settlers when you're so early in the game an extra Settler is really important. The Colosseum is only coming around when the map is more full and you have a few Cities which would take too long to produce Settlers and have other stuff to do. There's also another hidden cost to the Temple of Artemis: you can't harvest those resources or you lose the Amenities. That's missing a big part of the slingshot effect. The thing about the Colosseum is you can just delegate it to a City that doesn't have a huge amount else to be doing right now.

I think it's the latter point that pushes the Colosseum ahead. It's very expensive, yes, but raw costs aren't what matters, but relative costs compared to everything else going. The Temple of Artemis can sometimes be a trap early on - building a Settler which settles to a Luxury packs more of a punch, and by the time you have run out of these opportunities, the Temple of Artemis is almost gone. If you don't have enough room to Settle, then rather than building the Temple of Artemis, you'd be better off building Archers.

When do I tend to build the Temple of Artemis? I tend to build it when it's still hanging around surprisingly late, and I can chop it out in a few turns. Is this is a consistent strategy? No. I can't rely on the Temple of Artemis being around late. It's a really powerful additional bonus and I get excited in games where it happens, but I don't plan for it. When do I tend to build the Colosseum? To be honest, I'll always have a shot at it in any non-Religious Victory where I'm not really cramped for space or under imminent attack.

To me, that puts the Colosseum ahead.

Final discussion: AI. In my experience, the Temple of Artemis is usually left by the AI longer than the Colosseum. That's why I end up building it. As I set out above, I would never chase the Temple of Artemis if it was something really heavily contested, because it unlocks at the wrong point when I have other priorities. I am confident the AI gets the Colosseum closer to when it unlocks than they do the ToA to when it unlocks in the average game. The AI are very keen on Entertainment Complexes. However, as a player you can still normally beat them without too much difficulty because although they like to spam Entertainment Complexes, I don't think they beeline Games & Recreation particularly. I'm rarely worried about losing the Colosseum provided I head there in a timely fashion.

The only other Wonder I considered at the moment is the Potala Palace. I just think Diplomatic Policy cards are less useful than Economic. Most games I stick the extra Envoy points per turn card in, and occasionally jiggle in and out the "first Envoy counts as two" Policy by manipulating Civics techs. However, the Potala Palace just has staying power all game long as Diplo Policy cards update, whereas eventually the Culture from the Colosseum and Food from the ToA (as examples), just get left behind. I do think the choice for what goes next is now between these two, but it's a very even choice and I think good arguments to be made.

 

[Leucarum]

And now only awesome wonders remain. While the Mausoleum is fun, and watching the waters overflow with yields makes this one of my favourite wonders to build, overall it can't compete with the amount of yields Kilwa can generate, even if the latter isn't flashy.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [14]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [26]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [24]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [17]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [16]

 

[Drivingrevilo]

Potala Palace [14] (17-3) Top 10 is a very good finish for Potala, and we’ve rightly fought back against the common misconception that Diplomacy Cards are bad. Nonetheless, Potala is the obvious contender for next elimination. It arrives later than all other contenders except Big Ben; but Big Ben is unequivocally better because of the instant gold and because, in general, Economic Cards are the most valuable. And for some reason, Potala is really expensive for the era it arrives, which can equate to an extra 10-20 turns to build. I grab it if I’m doing a slow-burner science or culture game and it’s still available an era or two later, but I rarely prioritise it (except, perhaps, for diplomatic victories - but then again, I barely ever play these, soo....)

Temple of Artemis [17] (16+1) I appreciate the very detailed post by @CrabHelmet which arrived just as I was about to vote. I’ll very briefly answer one specific point I disagree with. Everyone seems to be operating on the assumption that Colosseum will reach 6 or more cities, but personally I think this takes a very generous estimation of terrain and available space. On many map types (eg. Fractal, Archipelago, Island Plates), ‘6 or more cities’ is plainly untenable. And even on more ‘common’ map types (eg. Small continents, continents & islands, Pangaea), I’m usually prevented from this ‘6 or more’ by mountains, water, city-states, or forward rushes from the AI. Thus in my opinion, 4 cities is a much more common ambition for the Colosseum, max perhaps 5.

But to return to my original post on Temple of Artemis: I think people are downvoting because the benefits of ToA are slightly intangible, or at least less obvious. Extra policy cards are plain to see; likewise extra tile yields, or extra great people points, or extra builder charges. With ToA, the mind requires more extrapolation to understand the benefits – but this doesn’t mean that those benefits are any less powerful. Extra housing and food mean your city grows massive very quickly; and in combination with a granary, it will hit population 10 in no time. This allows you to place four districts, which increase the overall yields, great people points, and general power of your empire - especially in combination with Pingala. It also makes your city hugely productive, since working 10 tiles is a very large amount for this stage of the game; this production can be translated into Settlers, infrastructure, a military, or whatever. Having such a large population in one city will also result in indirect culture and science in the form of several eurekas or inspirations (eg. for Mathematics or Civil Service). It’s easy to underestimate the cumulative effect of these ‘intangible’ bonuses, precisely because they are less obvious. But my message is: don’t underestimate the intangibles, because they’re really, really powerful.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [14]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [26]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [24]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [14] (17-3)
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [17] (16+1)

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus +1: Just my favourite wonder in the game, made more powerful by the fact that it "never" gets taken, and you want the harbour built anyway. No coastal city you say? Not to worry, it can even be built next to lakes! (lol) Super nice yields, but the extra great engineer charge is what puts this into S tier category. The ROI and flexibility this thing offers from the extra charges is staggering, regardless of whether you recruit GEs with GPPs or Faith/Gold. If there's one wonder I always go for in each and every game, it's this badboy.
Kilwa Kisiwani -3: POTENTIALLY among the strongest wonders in the game, but giving this a downvote now because it's a little high and inconsistent in my opinion. This wonder can be the strongest one of the lot, but also be very weak, depending on circumstances which you can't directly control all the time. I understand that this wonder got a LOT of positive attention after it was "discovered" how the bonuses work (rightfully so), but after taking these things into account, the wonder has issues. I've had games where I could suzerain 2 scientific CS (while going for a SV), but in a slight majority of my recent games, I've only been able to suzerain "leftover" city states like (just an example) Cahokia and barely Armagh. That gives me +15% faith and +15% gold in my capital, which are not always the yields I'm looking for. I could of course dump each and every envoy into the ones I do like (double CS of the same type, preferably of a yield that I want), but that would often require me to dump an excessive amount of envoys into a CS if the AI has, say, 9 envoys there for no good reason (while I start at 0). Personally, I like to spread envoys into city states for the envoy bonuses, as you can get some silly returns on the buildings if you spread them out well (+10 faith per religious building for each of my 8 holy sites without depending on suzeranity? Yes please). Add to that the AIs love for conquering city states, which occasionally happens to be the one CS I value the most. Bottom line: The wonder is great and I'll usually build it, but it's inconsistent. And because I like consistency, I cannot in good faith rate this for the top spot.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [14]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [23]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [25]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [14]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [17]

 

[Hokie Fan]

Kilwa Kisiwani (23+1). In my experience, Kilwa hasn't been inconsistent. On average, I would say that I can ally 4-6 city states. If you can do this, I think Kilwa easily becomes the best wonder in the game.

Colosseum (14-1). I upvoted the Colosseum earlier in the thread, but out of the remaining wonders, this is the only one that can be detrimental if you miss it because you'll have invested in an entertainment center and an arena, which just don't help much. Great wonder, but my least preferred out of the remaining ones.

I also appreciate the detailed analysis by @CrabHelmet and don't disagree with it substantively, but the reason I still prefer ToA to Colosseum is that ToA allows your capital to snowball faster than it otherwise would because of the extra food and housing. When you build ToA, you don't need to invest hammers in a granary, which offsets the downside of having to build a wonder relatively early.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [11]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [24]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [25]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [14]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [17]

 

[Josephias]

-3) Temple of Artemis (17 >> 14) The temple of Artemis is sure a nice wonder, but you do not always find the perfect location to build it. The other "not so good" point i see in it with regards to Colosseum, is it concentrates the Amenities reward in a single city, which is probably balanced later by luxuries distribution, but may lead to moments were it is inneficient.

+1) Kilwa Kisiwani (24 >> 25) Depending on how focused you are in the CS game you will take more or less benefit from Kilwa, I'd say it shines in bigger maps, with much more suzerainty options, specially if the AI wastes is envoys, but may seem underwhelming whet there are few city states available/left. Other factor may be which city state options you have and/or need. Kilwa may not compensate the potential of suzeraining Yerevan or Bologna, but it may compensate you not fighting for suzerainship of other high-ranked cities such as Antannanarivo, Geneva or Brussels, diverting your envoys to less powerful (but less fighted over) CS, and therefore gaining two minor suze bonuses + an effect comparable to a major suzerain bonus (and, if you have envoys to spare and can double some of these %-based suzerain bonuses, all the better!). All in all, Kilwa deserves an upvote.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [11]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [25]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [14]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [14]

 

[MrTans]

Temple of Artemis - Such a strong early game wonder which can transform one city into an absolute powerhouse, allowing you to generate large population very quickly - which combined with early Pingala promotions means a highly cultured and scientific city when you need it most

Potala Palace - The other bonuses outside of the diplomacy slot are so insignifcant I can't see any reason why this should stay now. Yes, the extra card is nice but not particularly a game changer compared with what we have left

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [11]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [25]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [11]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [15]

 

[JhGf_123]

Was just about to post when MrTans did, and by coicidence he made the same votes as me.

Temple of Artemis [16] (15+1) Agree with @Drivingrevilo and @Hokie Fan and @MrTans about the power of Artemis. But I don't know why everyone is only making comparisons between Artemis and Colosseum – other candidates do exist. E.g. I think on a straight comparison between TOA and Potala Palace, TOA wins every time purely because it arrives so much earlier. I'd say the same for TOA vs. Big Ben or, even, TOA vs. Forbidden City; even though both BB and FC are great wonders, you simply cannot put a price on how powerful & long-lasting TOA's early bonus is.

Potala Palace [8] (11-3) A fine wonder, but I can't help but feel that it should have been eliminated side-by-side with Alhambra. Diplo cards are not that much better than military cards, so why does PP make the top 10 but Alhambra is shrugged off several pages ago? Definitely time for Potato to go.

Big Ben [21]
Colosseum [11]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [25]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [8] (11-3)
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [16] (15+1)

 

[bengalryan9]

Big Ben [18] (21-3) Honestly these are all really good, but I'll downvote Big Ben if for no other reason than the fact they I typically put off researching economics in a lot of my games. I've almost always got more important things to research.
Colosseum [11]
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [25]
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [26] (25+1) The yields are nice and all but the extra engineer charges are where it really shines IMO.
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [8]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [16]

 

[Francel]

Big Ben [18]
Colosseum [8] (11-3) - Even though I do like this wonder and I do like having ecstatic cities, amenities are rarely the make or break factor in my games. If you don't regularly run into negative amenities, this is kind of like hanging gardens in terms of what it does for you (a growth bonus) plus some culture. Also, you have to make the entertainment complex and arena, when those probably aren't what you most want to be making.
Forbidden City [27]
Kilwa Kisiwani [26] (25+1) - Broken good. We are talking about potential for multiple empire wide +15% yields. I haven't had situations in which it's impossible for me to take advantage of this. However, since AI does not raze city-states, go out there and liberate them if they get conquered. It'll be worth it. If you can't get more envoys than the AI, use spies. Yes, even in these unlucky scenarios, you can still make Kilwa an absolute beast.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [26]
Oracle [26]
Potala Palace [8]
Pyramids [28]
Temple of Artemis [16]