The Mausoleum of Mausollos – “the Catapult wonder”

Ision

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I have decided to do a series or articles on the Great Wonders. Let me begin by saying that, if you are a new player that desires to advance in difficulty level, it is far better to forego any Wonder building. For a more detailed rationale for the reasons, click on the link at the bottom of this post.

Having said that, Great Wonders add a myriad of strategies and give the game more variety and flavor. The value of any particular Wonder is often situational or map dependant. What follows below assumes that either your strategy or map type is such that the Wonder is of value.

The Mausoleum of Mausollos – “the Catapult wonder”

Perhaps the most underrated and passed up of all the Ancient Age Wonders is Mausollos. At face value it seems to add very little. Available with Philosophy, this wonder adds 3 happy faces (only in the city it is built) and generates 2 culture points. No doubt if you have mastered the difficulty level you are playing on, this wonder is of little value. But for those that are playing at a level where getting a wonder is no easy task, Mausollos may be THE best wonder you can pull off in the Ancient Age.

Mausollos’s value is highly ‘indirect’ and therefore often overlooked. For the most part the best wonders in CIV are in the Middle Ages. Used properly, building Mausollos in the Ancient Age can give you a huge head start on grabbing multiple Middle Age Wonders. The reasons are fairly simple. Typically in the early game (first 2 ages) your cities will begin to grow in population at a faster rate than you can build happiness buildings, or afford the luxury of stationing 2 or 3 units there to act as military police. Many players often find that their wonder city has a few ‘entertainers’ in them. This waste valuable shield production and greatly reduces your wonder building speed. As a consequence you are often forced to choose between raising your luxury slider for the sake of a single city, or risk losing the race for a Middle Age wonder to another Civ.

The 3 happy faces of Mausollos is the equivalent of an ancient age Cathedral! Pull this Wonder on a decent river bound - high shield city, and you will have created a monster Middle Age wonder grabber. A common strategy is the Mausollos-Sun Tzu-Sistine gambit. A well-timed Palace pre-build with Mausollos in the Ancient Age, will almost assure you of pulling Sun Tzu in the Middle Ages. Often you will be able to pull Sun Tzu, and still have enough time to start another Palace pre-build before any AI has researched the techs that make Sistine or Leonardos available. Mausollos is even stronger for the warmonger player that also seeks to build a few wonders. Typically the warmonger builds very few temples/cathedrals well into the middle ages. For this player, the 3 happy faces of Mausollos may provide his ONLY option for a decent shot at any of the late Middle Age wonders.

Underestimated and under appreciated – The Mausoleum of Mausollos, can be used to catapult you towards your Middle Age favorites.

Ision

The 4 rules of Wonder addiction
 
Never thought anout it like that. Unfortionatly the AI usually beats me to that as well (on Emperor anyway). I rarely use the Palace prebuild (one of those self imposed rules) but lost out on the Sistine Chapel, J.S Bachs Cathedral and Sun Tsu's war academy by 1-3 turns:mad: . Managed to get Leos though which the AI will regret now I'm leading in the Industrial ages.

Might try this strategy in my next game as the Babylonians. BTW Ision thanks as your threads have helped me become a better player. Your "Tribes" series is interesting but your "4 Rules of Wonder Addiction" helped the most.

I had my 1st Emperor win today- my 1st conquest victory and my 1st completed epic game with the militaristic trait. And for my other Emperor game all I have to decide is how to win it I think.
 
"I had my 1st Emperor win today- my 1st conquest victory and my 1st completed epic game with the militaristic trait. And for my other Emperor game all I have to decide is how to win it I think."

CONGRATS!

Try for a space race next - add to it a self imposed rule of 'no starting any wars myself' - this twist will press your skills hard. Especially if you have gotten used to an early war strategy. You should enjoy the challenge

Also, thanks for positive comments.

Ision
 
Originally posted by Ision
"I had my 1st Emperor win today- my 1st conquest victory and my 1st completed epic game with the militaristic trait. And for my other Emperor game all I have to decide is how to win it I think."

CONGRATS!

Try for a space race next - add to it a self imposed rule of 'no starting any wars myself' - this twist will press your skills hard. Especially if you have gotten used to an early war strategy. You should enjoy the challenge

Also, thanks for positive comments.

Ision

Already done the space race on Monarch. I rarely start wars espicially early ones. My 1st wars usually involve coal though. I prefer the builder strategy. Would it be stepping on your toes if I done a strategy for the Civs? Your series is rather broad and I was thinking about specific tips. I also have a nasty habit of playing stange civs- Arabs, Byzantrine- and Maya.
 
My toes are pretty strong. Feel free. One word of caution, until you have won - and won regularly - with nearly every Civ - on every map style - and at Deity level. Expect to catch hell from Deity level players if your strats are wrong.

Ision

I have sent you a PM
 
I agree completely.
I did a 20K on regent just to try out 20K w/o scientific trait in C3C and the early Maussoleum worked wonders (duh :p ) for me.

Here is a link to that thread.
 
Capt,

Thanks for that reminder about the 20k victory - the cultural victory (20k or 100k) is facilitated by this wonder.

Ision
 
ahh, but let's not forget posibly the single most important feature of the MoM, tourist attraction, it's a ver cheap tourist attraction, and if built in a wonder city with the science GW's that tourism will come in very handy, th tourism seems more of a benifit to me than the 3 faces (great review btw :goodjob: )
 
Ision... you are a civ3 guru! I've been here only 1 day and I've read nearly 3/4 of your posts... truly enlightening stuff. I've learned more from you and the guides here today than I've learned in my 1 on and off year of game play!

Great stuff, keep it up, you are appreciated! ;)
 
Now, that is a recommendation :)
I've played the game for 2 years and have read several articles by top players, but there's always something new to learn.

ybbor: I can understand your point, but I beg to disagree. Imhso, if used right, the 3 happy faces are more important than the tourism. Point being that the extra trade and production you can get by growing your city big (preferably a city on a river so you don't need aqueduct) before laying hands on many lux, comes at (at least in my games) a more pivotal stage of the game.
 
Ision... you are a civ3 guru! I've been here only 1 day and I've read nearly 3/4 of your posts... truly enlightening stuff.

RIG,

Extrememly kind and generous comment. Many thanks.

Ision
 
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