The three most important wonders in the game...

[Archaelicos]

That's an interesting idea, I may have to try it. Is there any other pre-req for Feudalism?

 

[Angst]

mids, oracle and SoZ

 

[mrt144]

the other benefit of the oracle that i like is that if I found a religion I am almost assured to get a shrine from the Great Prophet that will pop from it.

 

[mikesonic]

Personally i like oracle most, If i have marble early and are using a financial leader, In immortal or even Deity games i can very often get free Civil Service from it if I beeline math&CoL! As my capital are almost always cottage spammed, with the power of bureacracy,If success,(70~80% it will) This strategy guarantees my tech lead early.

 

[magichj]

I guess I weigh in here. I am by no means a great or even good CIV player. But I find that I like to build the GW, SoZ, and obviously the Oracle.

GW just really helps me concentrate on early expansion since Barbs won't bother me. I realize its a short term benefit, but there is something satisfying about a horde of Barbs spawning by my city and attacking my neighbors instead.

SoZ is to me the most useful Wonder in the game. It never goes obsolete (as far as I can tell anyway) and will keep any defensive wars easily manageable.

The Oracle is just great as I normally play without tech trading enabled. I'm not always able to get it (typically only if I start with Mysticism), but a free tech when you can't trade them is always nice.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Pyramids, Great Library, Statue of Liberty

SE for the world!!!

 

[bob_x]

I go for Culture Victories , so my top three may be a bit bias.

1. Stonehenge (Quick culture)
2. Sistine Chapel (Additional culture to specialists)
3. Oracle (Free Tech. for getting another religion)

The Stonehenge culture is de minimus with respect to a cultural victory and not worth bothering with.

The only purpose of Stonehenge is to get your city borders to expand faster in the early game, without having to waste time and resources on building Monuments. However, my take is that this puts you behind in building a more needed Worker, Settler, or Warrior.

 

[bob_x]

GW just really helps me concentrate on early expansion since Barbs won't bother me. I realize its a short term benefit, but there is something satisfying about a horde of Barbs spawning by my city and attacking my neighbors instead.

The GW benefit is very long term if it enables you to build a city you otherwise would not have been able to build because you were busy fighting off barbarians and some other Civ settled the spot before you.

This is especially useful on Emperor level (compared to easier levels) where there seem to be more Barbarians, and they quickly upgrade from Warrior to Archer units.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

The Stonehenge culture is de minimus with respect to a cultural victory and not worth bothering with.

The only purpose of Stonehenge is to get your city borders to expand faster in the early game, without having to waste time and resources on building Monuments. However, my take is that this puts you behind in building a more needed Worker, Settler, or Warrior.

Actually, I find the Great Prophet points for a quick shrine to be a much stronger reason to build the Stonehenge. The free culture points for border pop is simply a bonus in my book. Plus, it's relatively cheap meaning you can chop it rather quickly. Unless you're on a crowded map, there's still plenty of time to chop/whip settlers/workers to fill up the land. Not to mention the shrine income and quicker border pops will aid immensely in early expansion.

 

[eric_]

Finally, the Statue of Zeus only really benefits you when you are at war.

Not necessarily. Doesn't it figure in to whether other civs will invade you? If so, it is a huge boon to a strategy of winning a peaceful victory. Even for a militaristic win, the less likely others are to invade, the more likely it is that you will fight wars on your terms.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

I don't think they figure it in, it just denies the wonder to the AI.

 

[Elandal]

It only figures for 4000 soldiers - same as one longbow (ref The inner workings of the Demo screen explained).

There are many things that don't figure in Power Rating, making AI war decision based on incomplete information at the best.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Many decisions to go to war throughout history were made based on a patchwork of incomplete information at best, so i guess it's more realistic

 

[dragodon64]

It only figures for 4000 soldiers - same as one longbow (ref The inner workings of the Demo screen explained).

There are many things that don't figure in Power Rating, making AI war decision based on incomplete information at the best.

Lol, that power rating is ridiculuous. Once had Catherine spawn Stalin in industrial era on a small ice island. Stalin pop was 28,000 but he still had some 200,000 soldiers. Mercenaries

 

[MassRiflemen]

I know this is super two decade necro.
Moderator Action: Then why do exactly that…feel free to start a new topic of discussion instead. Thread closed. -lymond

I have come to conclusion that for Elizabeth its:

Oracle -> Monarchy, more cottages

then colossus, +4 sea commernce

then Great Library -> GS spam.[