Wonder Trick (almost worked)

[Minou]

Thought I had a clever idea in my last OCC game as China. As is well known, you get 50% of the production invested in a wonder when it is built by another Civ. Usually this means a net loss of hammers even if you are using policies like Corvee. However, China can build 15% of an Ancient or Classical Wonder with one builder charge, and also gets an extra charge. So, it is possible to cycle builder charges into production for other things.

Here is my example. I built a Builder costing 60 hammers, with the cost reduced to 47 hammers using Ikium. I then used all 4 charges to build 60% of Apadana, putting it at 240/400. Then, I purposely waited for an AI to complete the wonder (AIs seem to love Apadana, so I knew it would be gone T50 at the latest). When I "lost" the race, it generated 120 hammers - more than 250% of what I invested for the Builder.

This is a pretty good payout, as Apadana is one the highest cost wonders that can be built this way. The payoff can be even better with Serfdom or Pyramids, but will be worse with cheaper wonders and as Builder costs go up.

Seems like this could be a powerful trick. The problem is that the production goes into whatever you are building but there is NO overflow. So, I ended up getting about 60 hammers towards a Campus that was half built, but then the other 60h disappeared. Still a slight bonus, but half of what I had hoped for....

I think it may still be a marginally useful strategy if you can SEE an AI is about to complete a wonder, and then switch into a very expensive build (for example a wonder you actually want like Kilwa) or shuffle between district builds when it looks like the they will finish it next turn (I personally have a hard time judging from the icon on the map when a wonder is almost done).

 

[Talis_eldar]

Nice idea in theory but in practical it is really difficult to guess the exact timing as you suggested. I will also try the idea in my next game and will share my experience .

Additional ideas for the Trick;
- Looking to the wonder icon in the map can be faulty sometimes, even the icon keep updating AI can switch production to something else like a military unit and you will be misinformed from the icon.(especially when you are in war they are always doing it)
-So as a result finding some AI who is in peace with everyone will be a better idea while implementing this idea.

 

[Victoria]

In theory with cards and autocracy you’re builders get 21% of a wonder. The ancient times your expansion is probably better than tricks and in the classical the wonders are 400+ and you can have Liang in place for 5 charges.
The trouble I have is I want the wonder quite often and getting for a 30% off builder is nice. Getting 16 culture and amenities for the cost of a builder is great. Then there is Petra and others. And with monumentality as opposed to ilkum how much are your builders really costing.

it’s a cute trick but it feels like you are shooting your self in the foot. The production is reduced and has to be used then in that city... just not using China right IMO but sure for OCC it may be an option and being OCC I would not worry too much about builder costs.

 

[Minou]

This was specifically for OCC. In a normal game I would rather be building military or Settlers. OCC is my new favorite, I always find it a bit of a drag to manage 20 cities so having just one lets me focus on each and every build and tile improvement / district placement.

There are plenty of wonders that are good fodder for this in OCC, for example a fail-Petra if you have just 2 or 3 desert tiles or Machu Picchu in most games. Of course finding out there is no overflow really weakens the whole thing....

Thanks for pointing out Corvee and Autocracy boost China’s builder ability. Hadn’t realized that before. So I suppose a charge to Apandana with Corvee gives 69 instead of 60, which lets you finish it in 5 charges instead of 6.

 

[Jarms48]

You could try rushing pyramids and keep all the builders you’re using at 1 charge. That way they all benefit from the extra charge making them more efficient.