I often find that on higher difficulties there is a bit of a trade-off
1) You can build early wonders but it will come at the cost of early expo's, population and science which tends to mean that you'll miss most of the renaissance era wonders (which are arguably better) and you'll have a long way to recover in science to catch up to the AI. You'll also risk the AI forward settling on you and you could end up with a smaller rump empire.
or
2) You skip the early wonders and focus purely on expansion and infrastructure. You'll find you're in a much stronger position to catch some of the renaissance wonders.
At high difficulties its very hard to do both - unless maybe you get a map like that Spain one with the GBR.
But generally most of the early wonders are pretty bad.
If you are going for a culture victory the earliest essential wonder is Sistine Chapel - forget Parthenon just focus on getting to Acoustics ASAP
For Science victory you need to get your cities established early - it's been proven over and over that the Great Library actually slows you down and is not worth the risk.
Diplomatic Victory - only essential wonder is Forbidden City so don't take the risk wasting time on an early wonder.
The only 2 that are useful.
1) Maybe Pyramids if you are liberty and you need more early workers
2) Oracle for the free social policy
But really you don't need these either.
1) You can build early wonders but it will come at the cost of early expo's, population and science which tends to mean that you'll miss most of the renaissance era wonders (which are arguably better) and you'll have a long way to recover in science to catch up to the AI. You'll also risk the AI forward settling on you and you could end up with a smaller rump empire.
or
2) You skip the early wonders and focus purely on expansion and infrastructure. You'll find you're in a much stronger position to catch some of the renaissance wonders.
At high difficulties its very hard to do both - unless maybe you get a map like that Spain one with the GBR.
But generally most of the early wonders are pretty bad.
If you are going for a culture victory the earliest essential wonder is Sistine Chapel - forget Parthenon just focus on getting to Acoustics ASAP
For Science victory you need to get your cities established early - it's been proven over and over that the Great Library actually slows you down and is not worth the risk.
Diplomatic Victory - only essential wonder is Forbidden City so don't take the risk wasting time on an early wonder.
The only 2 that are useful.
1) Maybe Pyramids if you are liberty and you need more early workers
2) Oracle for the free social policy
But really you don't need these either.
