What are the most useful wonders?

[Karpius]

I am something of a Wonder-monger. I will try for each one that I can, though I usually hard build them because I prefer to save chops for emergencies. The downside is I often tie up too much production in them and slow down over all growth of my empire. But thats the point, right? Its all about risk/benefit.

But my must have wonders would be Lighthouse, Halicarnassus, Venetian Arsenal and Coliseum. Those I will indeed chop for right off the bat.

 

[historix69]

There are about 42 wonders and they all have their own tile-, district- and or building requirements ... and they all occupy a tile.
If you can combine multiple wonders and theatre districts, this yields a nice extra-culture but requires a lot of planning ahead where to build which wonder / district.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

BigBen(if & with high Treasury timing), Ruhr Valley(into Capital), Amundsen-Scott(Hyper-Boost to ALL cities), Mausoleum Halicarnassus(Two charges for Great Engineers & Admirals!!), Oxford University(Boosting to Sci-City), Temple of Artemis(early growth to a specific second or third city), Venetian Arsenal... for the basics.

A few more are directly related to specific type of Victories. Cultural has a lot (Eiffel, Sydney, Maracano, BroadWay, Bolshoi, etc)!

 

[Lee Duane Fitzsimmons]

It's all about Petra. This sucker turns any desert city into a thriving metropolis.

 

[Sostratus]

The Colosseum is just so absurdly good- I do wonder how many cities the devs balanced it around. I think it is probably the single best wonder in the game. Even if it only gave amenities, it would be the best. The culture and loyalty are sprinkles on top.

I quite enjoy the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. I find retiring the Great Admirals a second time useful, but I use it even more with my Great Engineers. I have found it very useful with the engineers who boost wonder production and help space races. I have used it with Carl Sagan to win games very quickly.

As someone with an engineering background, I am physically unable to resist getting Mausoleum + James Watt + <3 Nikola Tesla <3 and Joseph Paxton every game. 2 charges on Watt means every factory is giving off +7 production. That's 4 more hammers in every city. Tesla lets you go beyond that and get a nice big 12 tile, +8 power plant. Paxton lets you set up a 12 tile uber EC with +7 amenities to every city in range. It is just SO GOOD that I can't honestly see why they applied it to engineers. (Interestingly, a Watt factory gives +7 aura. A city with Watt + Tesla will recieve +11 from its own factory, but other cities will still only get +7 from the factory aura. It is very odd, I wonder how it's coded!)

The +card slot wonders are also all amazing, especially now that we have legacy, dark age, and much better diplomatic cards. Before R&F potala palace was... meh.

While I don't mind having these always strong wonders in game, I think some are a little too good in every situation (Big ben, cough cough.) I really love how they've got a whole cast of very situational wonders- Petra, St Basil's, Temple of Artemis, Huey are all wonders you may have no use building, but the right city will get massive benefits. I really like this because then you aren't just doing the same rush every game.

 

[Casualty of war]

St. Basil's is Tundra Petra. Building it anywhere near the volcano Wonder is hilarious.

I'm getting fond of the Classical Great Library-Free Inquiry slingshot where I end up with 10-14 Era score along with all the benefits of the Wonder. Instant Golden Medieval. I'm fond of all the cheap, 400 hammer Wonders because of the Era Score you receive.

I always try to get Pyramids, if I have the right dirt, and Colosseum, if I can get 5 or more cities in the radius. Oxford and Bolshoi, timed so that the freebies are worth the effort. I am a sucker for Petra, but not as much as the AI was in this game. Gotta admire their optimism.

 

[NukeAJS]

I think the Pyramids are pretty much the best non-situational wonder for when they appear. The Colosseum is great, but at that stage of the game, it's probably completely unnecessary although the culture can be nice. I think of the Colosseum as more of an investment for the future because I almost always have negative amenities right before zoos/water parks become available.

 

[PMac67]

Have always gone for Colosseum, Forbidden Palace, Potala, Big Ben... Ruhr Valley maybe, but not so critical now in R&F cos of builder ability... Pyramids now easier to get also so that's on the bucket list as well... Great Library is very weak now compared to earlier Civ versions...

 

[acluewithout]

I nearly always build the pyramids. Extra build charges just has such a huge impact on your economy.

Colloseum is probably the best wonder. I also almost never build it - I feel like it becomes a crutch.

Oh, Petra. I feel like whenever I build it, I end up completely side-tracking my empire in the early rounds, and then I never really get enough benefit from it. Guess this is less of a problem now with Magnus McChop-Chop.

 

[Esperr]

Colloseum is the best by far, partly because the A.I never seems to go for it partly because it has the hidden bonus of +10 percent in all witys in range, partly because it says +12 culture ussually.

Other situational ones that can be alrite, Ruhr, big ben used to be really good but you don't need GP spam anymore for space launch. Im sure theres at least one im forgetting, FP is good, but it feels out of the way. Most of the others are just never worth it or the game is over by the time they would be.

 

[Boyan_Sun]

Most wonders take some time to work. So if focusing on fast victories (might be considered too utilitarian?), then the rankings are a little different. (based on deity)

First, for DV it really does not need any wonders, it would be better to use the production for a few more soldiers. Maybe terracotta army for a one-time healing? Or great lighthouse in ocean maps? And fast CV, this is very fun in R&F, basically all early wonders are so good, as long as they're wonders, can provide tourism - with Magnus, all leaders can be Qin. Religious... Not very familiar with this, it's said Jebel Barkal is very strong, then all Religious wonders.

In terms of fast SV, it's generally wide or conquest, so almost all single city wonders are useless, such as Petra, Ruhr, Chichen Itza... really no help, just waste of production. Key wonders of R&F fast SV are: Pyramids(mass builders), Colosseum(6~12 cities with +12~24 culture and even amenities), Kliwa(empire wide +15%); and some optional wonders: Oracle(Pingala combo), Forbidden palace(5 culture and wild card slot), Oxford & Bolshoi(Gambling!), Ankgor Wat(10 pop and 2~3 boosts), South pole station(1620 prod means 5 trees by Magnus, suit to globalization style).

 

[Archon_Wing]

For my list of priorities

Tier 1 (Essential)-- Always go for
Collosseum
Forbidden City

Tier 2 (Strong)-- Usually always take a shot at, unless I'm really slow
Pyramids
Big Ben
Oxford
Great Library
St Basil's
Oracle

Tier 3 (Good)-- Try to get these on a good map, or a specific condition.
Temple of Artemis
Bolshoi
Effel Tower
Cristo Redentor
Mt St. Michel
Collossus
Kilwa Kisiwani


Tier 4 (Ok)-- Mostly for decoration or making wins go smoother.
Ruhr Valley
Petra
Great Zimbabwe
Kilwa
Casa de Contratación
Sydney Opera House
Hagia Sophia

Tier 5 (Weak)-- Would rarely build myself, I'd want to capture it
Potala Palace
Alhambra
Amudsen-Scott
Hagia Sophia
Terracotta Army
Chichen Itza
Venetian Arsenal
Hanging Gardens
Broadway

Tier 6 (Awful)-- These are so bad that it's a waste of a tile and might even slow you down.
Great Lighthouse
Huey Teocalli
Macarana
Hermitage
Taj Mahal
Those two crappy religous wonders

Tier 7 (Counterproductive) These are so bad it can cost you the game.
Stonehenge
Statue of Liberty

There is some degree of bias since 90% of my R&F wins are culture so.... Also civ specific strats can make weak wonders stronger. America would see Potala as another Forbidden City, for example.

 

[TomKQT]

I also like all the wonders that give a policy card slot: Potala Palace, Forbidden City, Alhambra and Big Ben.

Same for me. Those wonders are very flexible, because you can choose your own bonus and change it anytime (by choosing policy cards).
And big ben also doubles your money, this can give you thousands of gold at that stage of the game.

 

[Abaxial]

Terracotta Army is useful if you are going to major in archaeology, e.g. with British Museum. I'm often building the Apadana because it is relatively cheap and has two useful slots for art. Jebel Barka is great if you have no iron to mine (which often seems to happen).

 

[TomKQT]

Always build: Statue of Liberty

Seriously? I think this is one of the worst wonders. It doesn't even give money, culture or great person points. You like it so much for the 2 settlers it gives? I never saw any use for the loyalty part, because a city able to build this wonder obviously wont have loyalty problems and it is also hard to make use of it in the 6 tile radius. It will not help you to make a new city on a foreign continent.

 

[Siptah]

Seriously? I think this is one of the worst wonders. It doesn't even give money, culture or great person points. You like it so much for the 2 settlers it gives? I never saw any use for the loyalty part, because a city able to build this wonder obviously wont have loyalty problems and it is also hard to make use of it in the 6 tile radius. It will not help you to make a new city on a foreign continent.

It's a very nice wonder to conquer though

 

[MaryKB]

It's a very nice wonder to conquer though

That almost does make it seem like the Statue of Liberty could be a liability. If you are invading a nation with this wonder and take that city first, you will be able to secure a foothold without loyalty concerns.

 

[Siptah]

That almost does make it seem like the Statue of Liberty could be a liability. If you are invading a nation with this wonder and take that city first, you will be able to secure a foothold without loyalty concerns.

I'm not sure if it works, haven't tried. But as far as I know the game rules, it should work that way and what you describe seems like a good strategy. My personal opinion is that as long as there is no truce, captured cities should not radiate any loyalty for you - but sadly, Firaxis thinks different.

 

[Archon_Wing]

That almost does make it seem like the Statue of Liberty could be a liability. If you are invading a nation with this wonder and take that city first, you will be able to secure a foothold without loyalty concerns.

That is why I put Statue of Liberty as one of the worst as it could be a negative. While one shouldn't really be losing cities that build wonders to the AI though, very few wonders can actually ruin your stuff even if you use them poorly.

 

[isau]

That almost does make it seem like the Statue of Liberty could be a liability. If you are invading a nation with this wonder and take that city first, you will be able to secure a foothold without loyalty concerns.

That's hilarious. I never thought of this but this makes the Statue of Liberty an ideal target city for invasion.