Shafi-is-back
Prince
All right guys here we go, with just a few more days to go, and waiting to get my hands on the game I have nothing to do but pour through the manuals and all the other information available on these forums, so to keep myself busy, I thought let’s do a write up on the wonders. Hopefully this lets me get my thoughts straight on this aspect of the game, helps a few others, and with your input maybe I might stand corrected on a few points.
I shall be dividing the wonders into Strong, Medium & Weak according to my opinion on them, however note that this does not mean you should focus on building all of the strong wonders in any specific game or avoiding all the others. You will have to pick and choose according to your grand strategy and UA.
The way to go about it would ideally be that you choose, wonders from the strong category that fit into your overall strategy and maybe compliment them with a wonder or two from the medium category. I would generally not bother with the wonders I have put in the weak section.
Angkor Wat
Effect – Culture cost of acquiring new tiles reduced by 75% in all cities.
Cost – 300
Available with – Theology
Rating - Strong
I rate this pretty highly and would want this most games to grab as much land as possible. Remember that in this game tiles can only flip through a culture bomb, which of course means he who gets the tile first keeps it. (more often than not)
I would probably go after this wonder most games. Specially if you were the French, could you imagine having your UA of +2 culture + a monument in every city and then this wonder! You should be able to block out a large chunk of land.
Even if you aren’t the French, if you build monuments in your early cities and build this wonder you will be definitely winning the early land grab battle with your neighbors.
I would strongly recommend the Stonehenge as a wonder which would have synergies with this! (And of course both of these wonders for the French)
Oh, and what if you were Russia and had the Krepost which gives you +50% cultural border expansion! It would mean you get border expansions for 12.5% of the original cost!
The Oracle
Effects – Free Social Policy
Cost – 150
Available with – Philosophy
Rating – Medium
Becomes available fairly early on and quite cheap to build. It’s a nice wonder, but not exactly overwhelming for me. Nevertheless a free early social policy seems rather nice. But I would have to wait until I have played the game a few times to be sure. I rarely used to build the oracle in Civ IV for the free tech since it was not usually on my early tech path, so my only concern is whether philosophy would be one of the early techs that you would usually need. If so The Oracle would be a very nice wonder to gun for indeed.
Stonehenge
Effect - +8 culture empire wide!
Cost – 120
Available with - Calendar
Rating – Strong
This really is an awesome boost to get early on from a cheap wonder that becomes available early in the game. (I am a sucker for early wonders I must admit) I would go for it most games and like I highlithed before if you build the henge, Angkor wat will probably go well with it. This is not just a wonder for cultural victories, the +8 culture will help in securing more land as well as getting through those SP’s faster which is important irrespective of whether you are going to war or going for the space race.
The Pyramids
Effect – Workers construct improvements 50% faster.
Cost – 175
Available with – Masonry
Rating – Strong
A cheap wonder that’s once again available early. Another very strong wonder in my opinion. Given the longer number of turns taken for worker improvements I think this will definitely give you an edge over your rivals and the effect will multiply as your empire grows but probably diminish towards the end when your workers don’t have much to do. But if all goes well you would already be well on your way victory by then thanks to The Pyramids!
Chitchen itza
Effect – Length of Golden ages increased by 50%
Cost – 450
Available with – Civil Service
Rating – Strong
I have grouped it in the top tier since I am assuming we would have many more golden ages than in CIV IV, however I could be wrong and if this is not the case, I would probably have to move this to a second tier wonder.
Not much to say here, except that you really can cash in on those golden ages. This would be a must have wonder for the Persians whose UA is “Golden Ages lasts 50% longer. Units receive a movement bonus and a+10% attack and defense strength bonus during a Golden Age.” Now that would be super powerful!!!
You would probably want to keep cranking up those golden ages, and really exploit to whatever end required. Also I must say adopting piety would really allow you to take advantage of this wonder!
The Forbidden Palace
Effect – Influence with city states increased by 50%
Cost – 600
Available with – Banking
Rating - Strong
Well the first thing that springs to mind is that you should have this if your Greece to go with your UA which is “City-State influence degrades half as slowly as normal, and it recovers at twice the speed as for other civilizations.” Even if you were not playing as Greece it still would be a powerful wonder specially if you are planning on a diplomatic victory.
Used in conjunction with Patronage, this wonder could really rock!
The Colossus
Effect - +1 Gold from worked water tiles.
Cost – 150
Available with – Bronze Working
Rating – Strong (In the right circumstances)
The workings of the wonder itself are unchanged from CIV IV. Available very early and very cheap. It of course is a situational wonder, which would be good on certain map types or if you plan on having lots of coastal cities. This could be a good wonder for the English, who will rely on a coastal strategy since their strength is naval. It’s a pretty nifty wonder and I definitely give it the thumbs up!
It also is a good wonder for someone planning on using the Commerce social policy tree. And also maybe if as the Arabs you plan on becoming an economic powerhouse, you could settle coastal cities and make use of this shiny wonder.
The Great Library
Effect – Free technology
Cost – 150
Available with – Writing
Rating – Medium
It does what the oracle did in the previous version. Cheap to build. Available very early. Seems like a nice enough wonder but not exactly top tier for me. Pick it up if you can, I.e. if you are heading for writing early then maybe worthwhile having a shot at it.
The Porcelain Tower
Effect – A Great Scientist appears near the city
Cost -400
Available with – Education
Rating – Medium
A free GS! Pretty nifty. But how valuable this wonder is depends on how difficult it becomes to generate GS’s and how important they are. We cannot answer those questions until we try the game, so right now I am going to slot this in the medium category since, unless GS’s become very rare and difficult to generate that’s where this wonder belongs. I usually tend to rate wonders with permanent effects on a civ through the game more highly than those that give you instant free stuff like a Great Person, Technology or Social Policy because in reality It’s not free. You basically converting hammers into GP points, beakers or culture.
Sistine Chapel
Effect - +335 culture in all cities
Cost – 650
Available with – Acoustics
Rating – Medium
With culture being very valuable in this game it really is a very good wonder, the only reason I have dropped it to the medium tier is because of the quantitative bonus being a bit low in my opinion maybe +50% or +75% would have meant it made it to the top tier. So yeah in some games I might build this, especially when chasing a cultural victory. Like most cases the decision to build or not will be situational and based on if you can spare those hammers.
It would indeed be a nice wonder to have coupled with the Angkor Wat and the Stonhenge. Also adopting the Freedom branch of the social policy trees would definitely make you a culture monster. Wouldn’t it be fun to try that as Monty after you have satisfied your blood lust?
Eiffel Tower
Effect - +8 Happiness empire wide
Cost – 1000
Available with – Radio
Rating – Medium
+8 happiness is nothing to sneeze at, but I guess it would be a situational wonder depending on how badly you need that happiness. If you are playing as Persia and planning on racking up those golden ages, don’t miss out on this wonder, it’s going to get you there faster!
My question is, is the price of 1000 hammers worth being able to have 8 extra citizens? Please share your thoughts. If not I might consider moving this down to the weak category.
The Louvre
Effect – 2 Great Artists appear near the capital
Cost – 700
Available with – Archaeology
Rating – Medium
2 free Great Artists! A very nice wonder indeed. The return on hammers invested is better than “The Porcelain Tower” if you assume Great Scientists and Great Artists to be of equal value. I would probably use them both for two simultaneous wonders or maybe use one for a culture bomb if I am badly in need of a resource, but my hunch is that late in the game, you might just spark a war by doing that.
Brandenburg Gate
Effect – Free Great General
Cost – 550
Available with – Military Science
Rating – Weak
I just think this wonder is too weak considering the investment, if it was a cheap wonder like say 250 hammers or so I might include it in the medium category or at least a +100% GG birth rate would have made it decent in my opinion. I would much rather use these hammers on units, fight and earn my GG than waste my time on this wonder. However as I have said repeatedly these opinions are all before playing the game, so it may be subject to change once I have played.
Statue of Liberty
Effect - +1 production for every specialist in all cities
Cost – 1200
Available with – Replaceable Parts
Rating – Medium
Here’s the problem with this wonder – how many specialists do you think you would be running, would 25 be a good assumption? I really don’t see myself having more than 25 unless I am very wrong about how the game mechanics work. So assuming you have 25 specialists, your benefit is now 25 hammers per turn, which effectively means it takes you 48 turns just to get back your investment without considering the fact that a hammer now is better than a hammer later.
However if you are planning on running loads of specialists, and also using the freedom and rationalism policy trees, i guess this wonder would suit your strategy perfectly and would be very useful, probably in a space race. Another positive is +3 GE points this wonder provides which means you are very likely to pop a Great Engineer which is always yummy!
I shall be dividing the wonders into Strong, Medium & Weak according to my opinion on them, however note that this does not mean you should focus on building all of the strong wonders in any specific game or avoiding all the others. You will have to pick and choose according to your grand strategy and UA.
The way to go about it would ideally be that you choose, wonders from the strong category that fit into your overall strategy and maybe compliment them with a wonder or two from the medium category. I would generally not bother with the wonders I have put in the weak section.
Angkor Wat
Effect – Culture cost of acquiring new tiles reduced by 75% in all cities.
Cost – 300
Available with – Theology
Rating - Strong
I rate this pretty highly and would want this most games to grab as much land as possible. Remember that in this game tiles can only flip through a culture bomb, which of course means he who gets the tile first keeps it. (more often than not)
I would probably go after this wonder most games. Specially if you were the French, could you imagine having your UA of +2 culture + a monument in every city and then this wonder! You should be able to block out a large chunk of land.
Even if you aren’t the French, if you build monuments in your early cities and build this wonder you will be definitely winning the early land grab battle with your neighbors.
I would strongly recommend the Stonehenge as a wonder which would have synergies with this! (And of course both of these wonders for the French)
Oh, and what if you were Russia and had the Krepost which gives you +50% cultural border expansion! It would mean you get border expansions for 12.5% of the original cost!
The Oracle
Effects – Free Social Policy
Cost – 150
Available with – Philosophy
Rating – Medium
Becomes available fairly early on and quite cheap to build. It’s a nice wonder, but not exactly overwhelming for me. Nevertheless a free early social policy seems rather nice. But I would have to wait until I have played the game a few times to be sure. I rarely used to build the oracle in Civ IV for the free tech since it was not usually on my early tech path, so my only concern is whether philosophy would be one of the early techs that you would usually need. If so The Oracle would be a very nice wonder to gun for indeed.
Stonehenge
Effect - +8 culture empire wide!
Cost – 120
Available with - Calendar
Rating – Strong
This really is an awesome boost to get early on from a cheap wonder that becomes available early in the game. (I am a sucker for early wonders I must admit) I would go for it most games and like I highlithed before if you build the henge, Angkor wat will probably go well with it. This is not just a wonder for cultural victories, the +8 culture will help in securing more land as well as getting through those SP’s faster which is important irrespective of whether you are going to war or going for the space race.
The Pyramids
Effect – Workers construct improvements 50% faster.
Cost – 175
Available with – Masonry
Rating – Strong
A cheap wonder that’s once again available early. Another very strong wonder in my opinion. Given the longer number of turns taken for worker improvements I think this will definitely give you an edge over your rivals and the effect will multiply as your empire grows but probably diminish towards the end when your workers don’t have much to do. But if all goes well you would already be well on your way victory by then thanks to The Pyramids!
Chitchen itza
Effect – Length of Golden ages increased by 50%
Cost – 450
Available with – Civil Service
Rating – Strong
I have grouped it in the top tier since I am assuming we would have many more golden ages than in CIV IV, however I could be wrong and if this is not the case, I would probably have to move this to a second tier wonder.
Not much to say here, except that you really can cash in on those golden ages. This would be a must have wonder for the Persians whose UA is “Golden Ages lasts 50% longer. Units receive a movement bonus and a+10% attack and defense strength bonus during a Golden Age.” Now that would be super powerful!!!
You would probably want to keep cranking up those golden ages, and really exploit to whatever end required. Also I must say adopting piety would really allow you to take advantage of this wonder!
The Forbidden Palace
Effect – Influence with city states increased by 50%
Cost – 600
Available with – Banking
Rating - Strong
Well the first thing that springs to mind is that you should have this if your Greece to go with your UA which is “City-State influence degrades half as slowly as normal, and it recovers at twice the speed as for other civilizations.” Even if you were not playing as Greece it still would be a powerful wonder specially if you are planning on a diplomatic victory.
Used in conjunction with Patronage, this wonder could really rock!
The Colossus
Effect - +1 Gold from worked water tiles.
Cost – 150
Available with – Bronze Working
Rating – Strong (In the right circumstances)
The workings of the wonder itself are unchanged from CIV IV. Available very early and very cheap. It of course is a situational wonder, which would be good on certain map types or if you plan on having lots of coastal cities. This could be a good wonder for the English, who will rely on a coastal strategy since their strength is naval. It’s a pretty nifty wonder and I definitely give it the thumbs up!
It also is a good wonder for someone planning on using the Commerce social policy tree. And also maybe if as the Arabs you plan on becoming an economic powerhouse, you could settle coastal cities and make use of this shiny wonder.
The Great Library
Effect – Free technology
Cost – 150
Available with – Writing
Rating – Medium
It does what the oracle did in the previous version. Cheap to build. Available very early. Seems like a nice enough wonder but not exactly top tier for me. Pick it up if you can, I.e. if you are heading for writing early then maybe worthwhile having a shot at it.
The Porcelain Tower
Effect – A Great Scientist appears near the city
Cost -400
Available with – Education
Rating – Medium
A free GS! Pretty nifty. But how valuable this wonder is depends on how difficult it becomes to generate GS’s and how important they are. We cannot answer those questions until we try the game, so right now I am going to slot this in the medium category since, unless GS’s become very rare and difficult to generate that’s where this wonder belongs. I usually tend to rate wonders with permanent effects on a civ through the game more highly than those that give you instant free stuff like a Great Person, Technology or Social Policy because in reality It’s not free. You basically converting hammers into GP points, beakers or culture.
Sistine Chapel
Effect - +335 culture in all cities
Cost – 650
Available with – Acoustics
Rating – Medium
With culture being very valuable in this game it really is a very good wonder, the only reason I have dropped it to the medium tier is because of the quantitative bonus being a bit low in my opinion maybe +50% or +75% would have meant it made it to the top tier. So yeah in some games I might build this, especially when chasing a cultural victory. Like most cases the decision to build or not will be situational and based on if you can spare those hammers.
It would indeed be a nice wonder to have coupled with the Angkor Wat and the Stonhenge. Also adopting the Freedom branch of the social policy trees would definitely make you a culture monster. Wouldn’t it be fun to try that as Monty after you have satisfied your blood lust?
Eiffel Tower
Effect - +8 Happiness empire wide
Cost – 1000
Available with – Radio
Rating – Medium
+8 happiness is nothing to sneeze at, but I guess it would be a situational wonder depending on how badly you need that happiness. If you are playing as Persia and planning on racking up those golden ages, don’t miss out on this wonder, it’s going to get you there faster!
My question is, is the price of 1000 hammers worth being able to have 8 extra citizens? Please share your thoughts. If not I might consider moving this down to the weak category.
The Louvre
Effect – 2 Great Artists appear near the capital
Cost – 700
Available with – Archaeology
Rating – Medium
2 free Great Artists! A very nice wonder indeed. The return on hammers invested is better than “The Porcelain Tower” if you assume Great Scientists and Great Artists to be of equal value. I would probably use them both for two simultaneous wonders or maybe use one for a culture bomb if I am badly in need of a resource, but my hunch is that late in the game, you might just spark a war by doing that.
Brandenburg Gate
Effect – Free Great General
Cost – 550
Available with – Military Science
Rating – Weak
I just think this wonder is too weak considering the investment, if it was a cheap wonder like say 250 hammers or so I might include it in the medium category or at least a +100% GG birth rate would have made it decent in my opinion. I would much rather use these hammers on units, fight and earn my GG than waste my time on this wonder. However as I have said repeatedly these opinions are all before playing the game, so it may be subject to change once I have played.
Statue of Liberty
Effect - +1 production for every specialist in all cities
Cost – 1200
Available with – Replaceable Parts
Rating – Medium
Here’s the problem with this wonder – how many specialists do you think you would be running, would 25 be a good assumption? I really don’t see myself having more than 25 unless I am very wrong about how the game mechanics work. So assuming you have 25 specialists, your benefit is now 25 hammers per turn, which effectively means it takes you 48 turns just to get back your investment without considering the fact that a hammer now is better than a hammer later.
However if you are planning on running loads of specialists, and also using the freedom and rationalism policy trees, i guess this wonder would suit your strategy perfectly and would be very useful, probably in a space race. Another positive is +3 GE points this wonder provides which means you are very likely to pop a Great Engineer which is always yummy!
