Is there any point in building wonders?

[glaciermi]

Thanks

 

[joncnunn]

Moderator Action: Moved to General Discussions

 

[Jaeger5]

There's a knowledge perk (third tier) that gives you 7 Culture per wonder.

Some gives all your farms, power stations, etc +1 yield plus whatever else they do. I built the Crawler and started pumping out wonders. I have to play PAC, get 1st tier Industry perk and the Crawler and get em all.

 

[bhavv]

Yea I was just trying to get em all with Hutama with just the crawler, didnt go too well.

Gonna try playing PAC again I think.

 

[Promethian]

Some of the wonder perks are really good. Panopticon for instance is a huge boon any time you are at war.

 

[Myth and Legend]

Yeah. The Gene Vault, the Promethean and the one which gives 1 to all farms are great. Also the MEME something that gives a ton of culture.

 

[Jimbo30]

I agree that the Panopticon is really nice, saved me in my last game in fact.

 

[Becephalus]

A lot of the wonders are great?

 

[Acken]

A lot is a stretch. There are a few good ones and some awful especially in the lasts rings.

 

[Stalker0]

A lot is a stretch. There are a few good ones and some awful especially in the lasts rings.

Yea, in summary there are a few wonders that I would consider "wonder worthy". The rest of them are garbage.

 

[Bandersnatching]

Some of the wonders are quite good - I'll second the one that grants +1 food from farms and the one that gives your cities a +10% growth bonus. But too few of them have abilities that I think are appropriate for wonders and many of them have really poor bonuses compared to their production cost.
Of course, this is just after playing one game and not wonderspamming, and we'll all know a lot more about them after a week or three of playing. I'm pretty sure that when firaxis patches the game for balance they will also modify some wonder bonuses and costs though.

How is the situation with building wonders on higher difficulties? Is it anything like Immortal/Deity difficulties in Civ5?

 

[Acken]

How is the situation with building wonders on higher difficulties? Is it anything like Immortal/Deity difficulties in Civ5?

No it's pretty easy to get wonders if you go for it. It's not guaranteed but you should be able to grab some fairly often if you reach the tech fast enough.

 

[Aeson]

I outsource them to neighbors to build for me.

 

[qwerty25]

I agree with you glacierimi. A lot of the wonders feel very useless, especially their base benefits. The first couple wonders seem pretty good with decent with the base benefits and other effects. Gene Vault for 205 gives +10% growth, Panopticon for 250 allows +1 sight. Master control 225 gives +1 move to workers and free network building. And etc. early wonders seem alright to me.


However, the mid-late game wonders are rarely worth it besides denying the cpu to have a slight advantage. For instance: New Terran Myth 750 and Xeno Drome 750 only provide 4 . (though xenodrome does provide a free xeno sanctuary). Holon Chamber 1050 only provides +5 . By the time you can build these wonders, I'm pretty sure you've already researched other comparable stuff like: terraforming and can build a terrascape which will give you +2 , +2 , and +2 . Or comparable buildings: Holosuite with +2 , and 2 artist slots, CEL crade giving 4 artist slots, xeno sanctuary for 550 itself giving +4 . I mean just look at the numbers if I made two xeno sanctuaries in two separate cities that would cost 1100 and give me +8 If I made the xenodrome it would cost 750 and also give me +8 (including the free xeno santuary). It is a 30% reduction in production cost, but that doesn't help you in the long run. And when compared any of these, trade routes totally eclipse any of the above.

Markov Eclipse, okay that seems decent military 50% exp faster,

Nanothermite for 1050 gives +4 (energy). Really? that's literally one generator or if you don't have correct bonuses than maybe another building. And perhaps a half/third of a trade route. It does gives +30 city defense which is alright? I guess.

Holon Chamber at 1050 only 5 . Not sure why you would make this. its a third of trade route (or half) at this point or just one academy tile.

Archimedes Leve at 837 gives 4 and 1 . (also +50 city defense, but not that important) Again overshadowed by trade routes and a slim benefit over other buildings. Also costs 5 geothermal making this building doubly useless.

Daedalus Ladder for 1550 gives a paltry 2 and 3 health. Which I guess the health is alright, but plenty of other regular buildings give +1,2,3 health already. Especially if you're this high in the tech tree. (I mean you could beline for augmentation, though I don't see why one would do so for this wonder)

Xenonova for 1150 gives 7 and 2 health. Again, overshadowed by trade routes.

Some other late wonders which I think have decent instead of paltry benefits: Resurrection Device +8 health, which you cannot get from trade routes LOL. Tectonic anvil +9 , which is somewhat offset by manufactories and other trade routes, but I liked the description of how it worked.

Anyways the main point is Wonders are boring because:

1. Overshadowed by trade routes
2. Slim benefits against comparable buildings
3. Many wonders don't have a unique abilities (like +1 movement, farm +1 food)

I really don't know why so many of the wonders don't give any "ability" to the civ. I would like some more wonders that modify one's gamestyle a lot more. For instance (these are examples and can obviously be adjusted for balance) why not have the Holon Chamber increase academy science by 1 or 2. Or perhaps tectonic anvil/ archimedes Lever let you create a strategic resource. Or when attaining New Terran Myth lets you skip one purchasing virtue and just let you purchase the next one.

I hope they will give more wonders "abilities" or at the very least increase the base benefits from building them.

 

[Theodorick]

While many people are saying that the wonders are useless and have very low yields, many continue to forget that the wonders were meant to be buffed up by perks, and sometimes quests. In that regard, they are worth it, and would actually be overpowered if the base yields were higher.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

There are wonders in the game? Honestly, every tech I research I can't tell the difference between a normal building and a wonder. Its not obvious from the tech description, and its not obvious from the bonuses.

Not to mention the lack of cool movies.......

 

[Cymsdale]

While many people are saying that the wonders are useless and have very low yields, many continue to forget that the wonders were meant to be buffed up by perks, and sometimes quests. In that regard, they are worth it, and would actually be overpowered if the base yields were higher.

Do all wonders have an associated quest?

Do any?

 

[manu-fan]

There are wonders in the game? Honestly, every tech I research I can't tell the difference between a normal building and a wonder. Its not obvious from the tech description, and its not obvious from the bonuses.

Not to mention the lack of cool movies.......

This was answered for me in the First Impressions thread.

Buildings have an octagonal border. Wonders have a circular one.

 

[Matthew.]

People talk about trade-route yields, but when it comes to wonders I find the production conversions just as bad (well, good, that is why bad )

If an outer ring takes 20 some turns to build, I can just use one of the production conversions for 20 turns. Sure, the wonder is permanent, but outer ring means game is probably close to finishing anyway, and you get the flexibility of being able to stop conversion to build something else and go back to it. Which you can do with wonders, too, of course. But then you may get beat out

 

[Traejun]

Wonders are generally bad, with a couple exceptions.