Speaker: I'm dubious as to whether the AI needs an embassy with another AI to do RoP or MPP deals. If the frequency with which the AI establishes embassies with the player is anything to go by, the AI would rarely establish embassies, and thus rarely be able to implement RoP or MPP deals. It does seem that the AI does establish embassies a little more in PTW.
Matt_g: I'm in Sydney, Australia; I'm not sure what time zone that is to be honest
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I intentionally didn't include a question on what traits are associated with each Wonder, as I don't think that knowing that is necessary to win on higher levels. It's the kind of thing you just check on the spot when considering building a Wonder. I would not be confident as to how well I'd do on such a test...
The Colossus adds one commerce to each tile in the city which is producing at least one commerce. In most cases this will increase a city's commerce output by 50-100%
I understand that the Great Wall increases the defense of cities with walls. I am unsure as to the factor it increases defense by, and I understan that cities size 7+ do not count as having walls. You are right when you say this seems counter-intuitive and silly, Renata. The Great Wall does indeed expire at Metallurgy.
My ranking of the ancient wonders for these game settings is as follows:
Pyramids
Great Library
Great Lighthouse
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Colossus
Hanging Gardens
Oracle
Great Wall
The wonders above the line have the potential to substantially alter the course of the game. The wonders below the line offer nice bonuses, but not game-altering effects.
I think everyone is aware of the power of the Pyramids. Lots of early expansion, but this wonder also helps right until the end of the game, since captured cities will always have granaries and expand faster, and all those granaries are free, so no maintenance! The Pyramids is always a powerful wonder - unless you're playing an OCC or 5CC or some other city-reduced game, or on a tiny map.
The Great Library is more valuable the higher the difficulty level is. On regent level, cutting off research will slow the tech pace down, but on higher levels it does much less so. The GL is more powerful than the Pyramids on some Deity games.
The Great Lighthouse is *usually* a powerful wonder in this kind of game. Remember Renata, if you're playing a Regent or Warlord level game, and going for a quick-as-possible win, then the main use of the Lighthouse is so you can attack overseas earlier. On higher levels, it has far more uses.
Finding other continents with a 'few suicide galleys' is *not* easy. Manytimes, to find anything, the galley would have to avoid sinking for several turns. I'm not sure, but I think that the chances of sinking are higher on higher levels. I have certainly had such dismal success in Emperor and Deity games with suicide galleys, that I have abandoned using them almost completely.
With the Lighthouse, contact is almost assured: you can move across sea tiles, and you can safely move 2 spaces into ocean tiles, moving 2 spaces back if you don't sight anything. This allows you to make *much* earlier contact, and to be the contact broker.
If you are the *only* civilization which has contact across two or more continents, and you know that no-one else will get contact until the arrival of astronomy (and you can be assured of this, since the AI never uses suicide galleys), you can use this to your immense advantage.
You will get more science discount opportunities from researching technologies already known to civilizations on either continent. You will be able to do science brokering, and map brokering. You may even be able to establish trade routes, and be the only one who is able to trade between the continents.
This advantage can be maintained for half an era, until the advent of astronomy. After that you can get your final payout by brokering contact.
If you're already ahead on science, and the AI has little money to give you, then the Lighthouse won't be that useful, but then if this is the case, you're probably playing on an easy level. If the AI is ahead of you, and has more cash than you, it can be of huge advantage. In Epic 4, my first Deity win, the English built the Lighthouse, and I was happy enough to be the first to see their galley. From that brokering opportunity - that lasted just one turn - I managed to get around half an era's worth of technology, catapulting me from the ancient era well into the middle ages, and going from being last in the world in technology to being just behind the leaders.
Being able to control contact is a *very* powerful thing.
The Colossus is a good wonder, a little underrated by many I feel; it'll get you lots of extra commerce for a long time, if you build it in a good city - but it isn't the game-changer that the top three can be.
The Hanging Gardens are good, they last an era, and are in similiar league to the Colossus.
The Oracle runs out far too early to be useful, otherwise it'd be a nice wonder, especially for religious civilizations.
Finally, the Great Wall is something you don't want your neighbour to have, but you don't care about that much either. I will say though, that many players don't build walls enough; walls are cheap, and do give a nice defensive bonus. Good for border cities that aren't going to grow very fast.
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Something else I think I forgot to mention before about Republic: we want to try our very hardest to be in Republic when our Golden Age hits. This means trying to avoid war before we get Republic. We've already got a good advantage over our continental opponents. Having a golden age under Republic would catapult us far past them.
-Sirp.
and so would avoid hooking them up until I gave the 'ok'. Well, I didn't give the ok, just to see exactly how long this would last.
