Pyramids

[nerdfighter13]

A similar question in the civ 4 forums made me wonder about the Pyramids. If I built the Pyramids, and they are captured by an enemy, would your cities lose the granaries in them, or would you keep them?

 

[mackerel]

Only the current owner of the Pyramids benefits from their granary effect. The Pyramids do not construct granaries in your cities, they just provide a similar effect. When they are captured or destroyed, you lose the effect.

If for some reason you were to build Granary city improvements despite already having the Pyramids, those cities with granaries would naturally continue undisturbed. It's not worth the upkeep and resources to use that as a backup plan.

 

[nerdfighter13]

Thanks. I did not know that they did not build granaries, and only gave the effect.

 

[Chimera Kitty]

Why would you want to build Pyramids anyway?

 

[nerdfighter13]

Because it lets my cities grow faster, and if you're wondering, I play on Prince.

 

[jarhead_leif]

,.you're more of confusing yourself playing 2 or 3 civ games at a time..

,.you never know you're building pyramids in civ4 in the thought of granting you with free granaries..

 

[Chimera Kitty]

Because it lets my cities grow faster

Exactly. Why would you want that?

 

[nerdfighter13]

So I get more science, gold, and production.

 

[Theov]

Exactly. Why would you want that?

I'm not sure if this is a rhetorical question or a question to get information.

To the rethorical question: you'd want the Pyramids, so other cities don't have to make granaries, and you save a lot of upkeep if you plan on growing many cities. You could make an argument that it's a lot of shields for an effect you get anyway (large cities).

To the question: larger cities work more tiles, more tiles give more food, money and production. More food = more people. More money = more income and more science. Production = larger military, even more money from the buildings you can build.

 

[Peaster]

I generally do not build Pyramids on Deity level, because large cities tend to riot, which is a distraction from my main goals. I often build them on King and below for

1) A better score in competitive games (GOTMs)

2) To get many size 3 cities asap. Size 3 allows celebrations, which allows van trade to thrive under Monarchy. Eventually I may switch to Republic for "vertical growth" and then the Pyr's are nor very important anymore (but having size 3 cities before the switch is).

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Even after Republic/Democracy Pyramids is useful in helping newly built cities reach size 3 faster. This is particularly helpful when a city does not have much extra food and thus grows slowly.

Having said this, like many others, I do not often build Pyramids at higher levels.

My main reason is that I give higher priority to other early wonders: Colossus, Marco, and Hanging Gardens. There is only so much effort I can divert to wonder building in early game and by the time the above are done a rival has typically built Pyramids.

My secondary, much less important, reason is that I like having the option of granaries in my build list for partial rush buying. Granaries are the best of only 3 structures that come at 60 shields. One, police station, is not available till mid-late game and the other, Harbor, is not available in land locked cities and often the first priority in coastal cities.

 

[AnorakTel]

I started with Civ 1 and in that game Pyramids are an outright game winner. Having spent far too much time playing Civ 1, somehow there is a nagging feeling even 20 years later that Pyramids are an important asset in Civs 2 and 3.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Pyramids in Civ1 had a completely different effect. It allowed you to pick any government type even the ones not discovered yet. Statue of Liberty does that in Civ2. The designer of Civ2, Brian Reynolds, believed that being able to pick modern governments that early in the game skewed things too far and thus made the effect not be available till mid game. Statue of Liberty, of course, is not as popular in Civ2 as Pyramids was in Civ1 simply because by the time you can build it you have most government types anyways.

 

[jarhead_leif]

Pyramids in Civ1 had a completely different effect. It allowed you to pick any government type even the ones not discovered yet. Statue of Liberty does that in Civ2. The designer of Civ2, Brian Reynolds, believed that being able to pick modern governments that early in the game skewed things too far and thus made the effect not be available till mid game. Statue of Liberty, of course, is not as popular in Civ2 as Pyramids was in Civ1 simply because by the time you can build it you have most government types anyways.

Well, they did revive the glory of the pyramids in CivRev(nds). Oh, and Civ4 as well.