They build a wonder...and suddenly you waste 500 shields on a god damn knight

[Rosicrucian]

The scenario.

You are building a wonder, and are 5 turns from completion. You are also building a palace in another city (saving up for a wonder). Enemy builds the wonder you have almost completed.

WHAT can you do, other then sigh as a ton of shields are wasted on a god damn knight or bank or something!?

Any advice on how to cope with this situation, or better yet, how to not enter it in the first place?

 

[Ironstone]

It's a bit mind snapping isn't it!

There are some solutions though - some more effective than others.

Firstly, when the computer announces "The Greek are building the pyramids" or whatever you can sometimes get a rough idea of how long it will take them. Of course, early in the game this will be difficult, so you'll just have to guess based on how long you've been building it and how powerful a builder city you're using, what the other civs are likely to have at that stage, etc.

Later, when you can see their land you can improve your guess by seeing how big (population) their good cities are.

Later again, you can get an exact figure by investigating their cities. Once you've got an embassy with them, click on the star at their capital. To establish one click on the star at yours (I think, from memory). This costs money and can be laborious, so cheesey "look and reload" tactics might be attractive to the unscrupulous player. But you can learn exactly how many turns in front or behind you are

In the meantime, a sort of "fallback" position is to have several cities building reasonably expensive items or other wonders. When the others build first you can sometimes juggle production around to be less wasteful. But you must start at the other end of the chain. I.e switch city C, then B, otherwise what you want to switch A to won't show up as an option to build.

Hope some of that made sense!

 

[Bamspeedy]

If you hit the F7 key (I think that's the one), you can see where all the wonders are and who's building other wonders (civs you have an embassy with), and in which city it's being built. I then look at that city (buying territory maps really helps) and see how big that city is and what kind of production they could put out. If I think it might be pretty close, then I'll investigate that city to find out exactly how far they are.

 

[RAL2000]

Civ3 is a completely different game.

I try to get the pyramids and after that, let the other races build my wonders for me. Heh heh. Then take the city that they are built in if possible.

On the higher levels, trying to build your own wonders will put you waaaaaaaay behind the AI, especially if you end up with one pre-empted like you demonstrated.

Or, of course, if you get a leader from combat, then you are guaranteed a wonder in a single turn.

No wonder is nearly as essential as I remember them being in Civ2. There are some very nice ones, but nothing overwhelming. I just try to get pyramids cause it's the only phase of the game you have a good chance to build a wonder in at higher levels.

 

[RAL2000]

Civ3 is a completely different game.

I try to get the pyramids and after that, let the other races build my wonders for me. Heh heh. Then take the city that they are built in if possible.

On the higher levels, trying to build your own wonders will put you waaaaaaaay behind the AI, especially if you end up with one pre-empted like you demonstrated.

Or, of course, if you get a leader from combat, then you are guaranteed a wonder in a single turn.

No wonder is nearly as essential as I remember them being in Civ2. There are some very nice ones, but nothing overwhelming. I just try to get pyramids cause it's the only phase of the game you have a good chance to build a wonder in at higher levels.

 

[Ripley]

One thing you can sometimes do when you see the message that a certain civ has finished a wonder you were building is this. It obviously won't work if your leading the tech race or have no money.

Have a look at what techs you can buy that allow you to build a wonder. Buy it (if possible) and switch production straight away. You need then to decide if the cost of the said tech is worth paying, as opposed to the shield production you would lose.

 

[mmmBEER]

An almost sure fire tactic for wonder building is never do it in your capital. That way you can always switch to a palace and wait for the next wonder to rear its beautiful head.

The other thing I've found is that you get 1 extra turn, that gives you enough time to try to buy or steal another tech. Buying a tech is my usual out.

Sometimes I just bight the bullet and end up with a really really big cathedral (at least that's the way I rationalize it).

 

[Moulton]

All valid suggestions. One question remains: what if, after trying everything, you have a gold-plated knight?
sometimes it is just luck. Then use your embassy and investigate that city and evaluate your chances. Make this kind of decision early, They might increase production, or something else might happen, and you come close but not close enough.

Happen the hard way to me. Aztec announced he was building Sistine... OK, no prob. I have only about 9 turns left to completion, he is not building anything else that he could have switched from, his city is pop3, and one of them is an entertainer.
The next turn, they announced that he built it. Apparantly the AI can also use GL's to rush production.

Naturally, I had to go capture it.

 

[Dragon2]

Because of all the wasted shields, I've just quit building Wonders, and I've been more successful as a result.

The only exception I make is for the Hoover Dam. For that, I try to estimate how many turns it will take to reach Electronics and have lots of shields stored up in a Palace in a river city so I can complete it in a couple of turns.

I like to think that the AI also loses lots of shields the same way. That turned out to be the case with corruption.

 

[greynite1]

The Joy of Cultural Building

The wonder of getting the wonders first and always
looking at your opponents and going HA HA!! I know that
feeling well.

I think that the key to getting the wonders is planning
PLANNING PLANNING and knowing exactly which wonders
you want to go for and what they mean basically you want
just about ALL of them except for the Great Light house and
Magellans Voyage UNLESS!! your plans are very naval in flavor.

I think the first two wonders you should absolutley never
go without are the Pyramids and the Oracle. I personally
have no problem putting all my wonders in my capital as long
as I can put it near a river and have abundant food source
this turns your capital into a Bastard Shield building machine.
Of course get hills in the mix if you can. This is where you city
planning skills come in huge because you have to be able to shift
and do shield tricks when you are building the wonder. The only thing I never do is harvest forests because the resources they give are important you can repair the thing usually with civic improvements but then you have to pay upkeep on it. I usually
shift my workers and improve hills and mountains as well as use
irrigation to increase my workforce. This usually does great Always go for the GREAT LIBRARY in the Ancient Age right after the pyramid and the oracle. Because this gives you 2-3 free advances at the cost of your opponents sweat and science effort so you can research other things ending the age quicker for you. The colossus is also very helpful because it increases your commerce. ANYTHING you can do to increase commerce in or near your wonder building cities will help. Hanging Gardens
rocks by the way. As soon as you can build libraries take a "
Wonder Break" To build them in all your cities. The more
advanced you are the more often you get to start building the
wonders first.
In the middle Ages Leonardos Works shop, Sun Tzus art and Wallstreet are very important because it increases commerce.
The other two help you by saving cash #1 upgrading units cost is halved and not having to build or maintain barracks on your primary continent is a huge advantage. Education is a BIGGIE because again increasing the science output whups ass and continues to assist you in scientifically out pacing your opponents. I find a good measure is checking to make sure you
ALWAYS have at least one unit your opponent fears. Oh and in the middle age I can't stress JS BACHS enough get it before your opponent on your way to researching Democracy. Well thats a start. its alittle strategy a few tips of things that have worked for me. Enjoy Discuss Argue and be merry