Pyramids or Parthenon or Oracle?

[wc3promet]

Pyramids or Parthenon or Oracle?

Pyramids -> Great Engineer + All Govt Civics
Parthenon -> Great Artist + 50% Great People Birth Rate
Oracle -> Great Prophet + Free Tech

These 3 Wonders are definitely Game Breaking but you will only have a chance to get one of them.

If so which one should you get and why?

Also how do I know which Player has which Wonder? And how can I capture cities with their wonders intact?

 

[Smeee]

Myself? I'd go for the Parthenon but only cos I'm a devotee of cluture bombing Good for the whole game.

Great Engineers and Great Profits evenyually loose their usefulness in the end game. But a Culture bombs always welcome

 

[Shillen]

Great engineers lose their usefulness?

I'd take a great engineer over 2 great artists anytime.

 

[wc3promet]

Myself? I'd go for the Parthenon but only cos I'm a devotee of cluture bombing Good for the whole game.

Great Engineers and Great Profits evenyually loose their usefulness in the end game. But a Culture bombs always welcome

As soon as I see you using your 1st Cultural Bomb, I will declare war on you and I will get your neighbours to declare war you also.

 

[MRM]

Pyramids or Parthenon or Oracle?

Pyramids -> Great Engineer + All Govt Civics
Parthenon -> Great Artist + 50% Great People Birth Rate
Oracle -> Great Prophet + Free Tech

These 3 Wonders are definitely Game Breaking but you will only have a chance to get one of them.

If so which one should you get and why?

Also how do I know which Player has which Wonder? And how can I capture cities with their wonders intact?

If I play a creativ leader and go for cultural victory then I would prefere the Partheon

If I want to warmonger I would take the oracle - bypass early religions and build oracle to get code of laws early ( this way I can get a religion even if I bypassed the early realigions + more importen, courthouses - otherwise you are ruined if you are military successfull in early game ...

Pyramids when I have an industrious leader and want to build even more wonders

 

[Gufnork]

Pyramids if I'm Philosophical, Oracle quite often and very rarely Parthenon (only if I have marble). Pyramids are great for early Representation, but it's damn expensive. Oracle is cheap and gives you a nice science boost. Parthenon is probably fairly useful but it increases the odds for great artists (yuck!) and it's darn expensive.

 

[Toshiro126]

The Oracle can be very handy if it gets built the same time Code of Laws or Theology is available. It allows you to found Confuscianism or Christianity before anyone else can.

I seem to have less trouble building the Parthenon and/or Oracle before the AIs than I do with the Pyramids. I get beat to that one a lot.

 

[petey]

I'd take Pyramids. The extra happiness and research from Representation are invaluable and the Great Engineer points are better than Artists and Prophets any day of the week.

Also, those extra beakers combined with being able to have a larger population from the happiness will get you an extra tech in themselves, so it does the job of the Oracle. The extra GPP production from Parthenon is really good, though, but I don't think it quite comes up to all the benefits you get from Pyramids.

 

[Zavior]

I'd build axemans instead and secure few enemy cities. Thats far more gamebreaking for me.

 

[Mmmm Butter]

Also how do I know which Player has which Wonder? And how can I capture cities with their wonders intact?

You could either zoom in to the city, if you're near enough to be able to see it, and scan it for wonders, or you could go to the game stats screen, I think it's the one on the top right that looks like a graph, and click the "wonders/top 5 cities" tab, that'll tell you which are in the top 5 cities, and who built the rest, I think. I'm pretty sure wonders always stay intact when you capture a city.

I like the Oracle, I usually put off the last turn of production and wait for theology to be available, then get that as a free tech. Plus the free obelisk in every city lets you expand new cities borders early, if you don't have a creative leader.

 

[Oggums]

The Oracle can be very handy if it gets built the same time Code of Laws or Theology is available. It allows you to found Confuscianism or Christianity before anyone else can.

It can get you both!

Research up to Writing while building it, to grab Code of Laws when it finishes. Then, research the prerequisites for Theology while your first Great Prophet is building. Use the Prophet to get Theology.

 

[Luhh]

Pyramids hands down, unless you're playing philosofical and really really really want those extra 50%. But 50% compared to +100% and then a bit later with pacifism and epics 300% is not big.

So pyramids is the most important to get, especially at higher level, oracle is situational strat.

Edit: Pyramids also gives you cumulative effects with another powerful wonder, the great library. +3 research on those 2 free scientists and 100% boost for 12 free research each turn. Not bad, not bad.

...Uhm, yeah and library too of course and other research buildings.

 

[Taelis]

I always go for the Oracle, but I rely on cottages for science, not specialists, so I don't get much benefit from representation. The happiness bonus isn't that useful to me either, since health and undeveloped terrain still hold me back.

As Oggums said, I take Code of Laws and get a great prophet + theology. On immortal I can always chop rush the Oracle before an AI builds it, but sometimes an AI builds it before I can discover writing.

 

[Zhahz]

I like all 3 but I think the pyramids is the most powerful. I can never have too many great engineers and being able to use representation early is crazy huge.

 

[automator]

I prefer the Pyramids because I dig Representation, and being able to switch to that arly in the game.

 

[Jarrod32]

Luhh has it...Pyramids, then that first great engineer pops out at about the right time to give you the Great Library. Then the great scientist that comes out builds the academy, add Oxford to it later, and you have a big-time science city.

Make sure it is a city where you can add other specialists, though...it may or may not be in the same city as the Pyramids...

 

[Fr8Train]

I'd take a great artist over 2 great engineers most of the time.

 

[josephstalin]

Oracle free tech and cheep
Parthenon useful, but it is obsolete later.
Pyramids useless, I would rather research it.
You usually want to get religion going, so Oracle is the best for me.

 

[Javariel]

Am I the only one who uses Oracle to get metal casting early? Getting forges up that quick will help you knock out the buildings you need and let you move on to an army. Or allow you to make another of the wonders in 2/3 the time. Or do both, wonder in main city army in others. With your early great prophet (from the wonder) building the shrine for your religion.

 

[Finite Monkey]

Pyramids for me. That great engineer is a guranteed wonder of your choice.

Although if I am going for a cultural win I do prefer Oracle for the extra religion. The parthanon isn't bad, but I want Marble to bother constructing it.