Rate the Wonders - part II: Medieval/Renaissance Wonders

[wigwam]

I agree with the main point, that mathematically they should be going for things that take advantage of the UA directly, but aligning advantages of the same type is still valuable as any choices down the line become stacked. If you have a great artist that you can turn into a golden age or a great work, if you have chichen itza & freedom & persian UA taking the golden age becomes very lucrative. Or the games project 500 happy. Or Taj Mahal

Yeah, you're absolutely right (I tried to allude to that with my analogy to Babylon and the Porcelain Tower, but you put it better). The thing is that, especially on the higher difficulty levels, as Brazil, it's probably worthwhile to beeline Civil Service and do whatever you can to get Chichen Itza; as Persia, it's just not important enough to justify that. You can always invade the guy who does build it!

 

[sonicandfffan]

RESULTS

Total so far: 27 votes. Feel free to continue rating beyond this. I have the results in an excel file so it won't be too hard to add more to the total.

Medieval Era:

5.78 - Alhambra: Provides all units constructed in the city the Drill I promotion (Combat bonus in rough terrain). Adds a free castle as well as a +20% boost to Culture in the city which it was built
1.19 - Angkor Wat: Culture and Gold cost of acquiring new tiles reduced by 25% in all cities
5.70 - Borobudur: Must be built in holy city. 3 free Missionaries appear. +5 faith.
6.11 - Chichen Itza: Length of Golden Ages increased by 50%
5.37 - Great Mosque of Djenne (requires Piety): All missionaries born in this city may spread a religion 3 times instead of 2. Provides a free mosque in the city in which it was built. +3 faith.
6.22 - Hagia Sophia: Generates a Great Prophet and provides a free temple in the city which it was built. +3 faith.
6.33 - Machu Picchu: +25% Gold from Trade Routes. Must be built within 2 tiles of a mountain inside your territory.
7.63 - Notre Dame: +10 Happiness and +4 Faith


Renaissance Era:

7.74 - Forbidden Palace (requires Patronage): Two extra delegates in the world congress. Unhappiness from number of citizens in non-occupied cities reduced by 10%
5.37 - Globe Theatre : 1 free Great Writer appears near the City where the Wonder was built. 2 slots for great works of writing.
3.70 - Himeji Castle: +15% combat strength for units fighting in friendly territory. Provides a free castle.
8.59 - Leaning Tower of Pisa : +25% boost to Great People generation in all cities and generates a Great Person of your choice
7.04 - Porcelain Tower (requires Rationalism): A Great Scientist appears near the city which it was built and 50% more Science from research agreements
3.22 - Red Fort : Defensive Buildings in all Cities are 25% more effective
7.93 - Sistine Chapel: +25% Culture in all cities. 2 slots for great works of art.
5.37 - Taj Mahal: +4 happiness. Starts a Golden Age.
6.44 - Uffizi: 1 free Great Artist appears near the City where the Wonder was built. Contains 3 slots for great works of art.

 

[wigwam]

Ha! Angkor Wat seems to be our unanimous choice for worst Wonder. Not much of a surprise, I suppose.

 

[sonicandfffan]

Angkor Wat basically increases the speed of your border expansion though, I'm not sure why it's rated as terrible. It means your city will gain new tiles quicker. I guess city expansion isn't highly valued in Civ.

 

[wigwam]

Angkor Wat basically increases the speed of your border expansion though, I'm not sure why it's rated as terrible. It means your city will gain new tiles quicker. I guess city expansion isn't highly valued in Civ.

It comes very late; by Education, you've founded all of your core cities and expanded their borders a fair amount already. Because it's just a 25% increase, it doesn't do much for cities with low culture production—which means it barely helps puppet cities, and it doesn't do much for non-core cities in a wide empire. It also doesn't make a very noticeable difference if you already have the Tradition opener working for you.

It'd be better if it came earlier and/or gave some culture in every city.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Medieval Era:

7 - Alhambra: a good Wonder, but since BNW I haven't made it to Chivalry fast enough in any of my games.
5 - Angkor Wat: I will usually only build this if I need to grab land fast or have a very expansionist neighbour. Nice as the Shoshone or America.
7 - Borobudur: I've built this in every game so far. Very very useful, especially if you're being hounded by an excessively pious neighbour *cough* Ethiopia *cough*. Also handy for completing spread religion quests set by distant CSS.
8 - Chichen Itza: I love this Wonder. Very hard to get, though. Unsurprisingly, a must as Brazil.
7 - Great Mosque of Djenne (requires Piety): Weirdly, I like this more with BNW than I used to. It stacks nicely with Borobudur, but it can be risky to build them both.
6 - Hagia Sophia: Invaluable if you've been skipping shrines and temples, missable otherwise.
6 - Machu Picchu: Good if you have the city location for it. Anything that helps with Gold is now more desirable than before.
6 - Notre Dame: Not managed to build this one yet post-BNW. The AI loves it.


Renaissance Era:

5 - Forbidden Palace (requires Patronage): Not worth it on my difficulty. The AI always gets there first, and I never bother with Patronage.
7 - Globe Theatre : Not managed to get this one yet but I can see it being useful to have.
4 - Himeji Castle: Another CS-only one.
9 - Leaning Tower of Pisa : Almost unmissable for me. Really, really great Wonder to have.
8 - Porcelain Tower (requires Rationalism): Also build this one whenever I can.
4 - Red Fort : Meh.
8 - Sistine Chapel: Definitely worth having - and easy to get as for some reason the AI often ignores it.
5 - Taj Mahal: A little more attractive than it used to be, what with happiness being more difficult to get hold of, but I still usually won't bother. Unless I'm Brazil or Persia.
9 - Uffizi : A must-build, since I usually play culturally.

 

[Crustierpie]

Medieval Era:

7 - Alhambra: Hard to get but one of the better wonders for both domination and cultural
1 - Angkor Wat: Useless
7 - Borobudur: Best wonder for religion expansion
7 - Chichen Itza: Amazing for some civs (brazil, persia), good for some but not all around useful for low happiness/artist expansionists.
3 - Great Mosque of Djenne (requires Piety): Inferior to Borobudur/sophia in almost every way and unlocked at the same time, also its annoying building all missionaries in one city.
7 - Hagia Sophia: Great when you need a religion or to enhance it.
7 - Machu Picchu: +25% Gold from Trade Routes. Must be built within 2 tiles of a mountain inside your territory.
8 - Notre Dame: Whats not to like.

Renaissance Era:

6 - Forbidden Palace (requires Patronage): The extra delagates is nice, means you can usually become host at least for a little while and -10% happiness is pretty sweet
4 - Globe Theatre : Great writers seem to be my least favorite of the three cultural GP and I rarely need the extra space for writers
4 - Himeji Castle: Not a priority but nice bonus
9 - Leaning Tower of Pisa : Adaptable to any strategy, free GE for rushing porcelain tower is one of my favorites.
8 - Porcelain Tower (requires Rationalism): Certainly a great wonder if you can DOF a bunch of people, however some games that doesn't seem to be an option.
2 - Red Fort : If you have to depend on defensive buildings you are already losing.
9 - Simply the best cultural wonder.
7 - Taj Mahal: 4 happiness and a golden age are bonus that apply to any victory type, very underrated.
5 - Uffizi : Damn hard to get the theme bonus, but free great artist is nice and with archaeology spam you need those slots.