Wonders Strategy Article: Stonehenge

[blitzkrieg1980]

What?

Sorry, bro. I was making a little ES:Oblivion joke. The Cowl of the Gray Fox. Off topic, sorry

 

[Gwyddelig]

There's nice synergy to be had, especially for a financial leader combining a COL slingshot with the Oracle and SH. You'll have 4GPP and a shrine city. Then go proselytise and watch the cash come in.

The obvious drawback is of course that building two early wonders merely compounds the expansion problems of one. Depending on the map/opponents it might be possible to get out an early settler to take up the expansion slack whilt your capital spits out wonders?

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

There's nice synergy to be had, especially for a financial leader combining a COL slingshot with the Oracle and SH. You'll have 4GPP and a shrine city. Then go proselytise and watch the cash come in.

Why financial? What's the synergy? I almost always slingshot Metalcasting for the Colossus if I'm able to nab the Oracle with a FIN leader for those early 2 4 tiles. I'm open to trying new things, but I guess I'm missing where FIN is synergistic with shrines/Prophets.

 

[Grey Fox]

Oh how I love being financial with Collosus in a golden age

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Oooooh... thinking about all those moneybags on coastal tiles is making me drool a little bit

 

[Grashopa]

You can also use SH aggressively to flip cities. Find a close capital, settle 2 away and chop it out.

 

[lucifuge]

I can see how stonehenge is useful but in Warlords it isn't very hot for obvious reasons.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Oooooh... thinking about all those moneybags on coastal tiles is making me drool a little bit

It's almost as good as working cottages...almost .

Well actually if you have colossus people who did the numbers say that

Riverside grassland cottage > colossus coast > grassland cottage > normal coast.

The immediate returns on FIN/colossus coast are really nice though. It usually takes longer to get that kind of commerce so if it can vault you to important techs quickly it can actually be the superior long term option as well.

But stopping play to carefully consider the break even point on that given a land distribution, cottage/city growth time, etc is kind of .

 

[ppciv4]

I dont build it.
I need archers to survive, and settler.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I dont build it.
I need archers to survive, and settler.

You do not need archers to survive unless you are playing huge/marathon, raging barbs, or deity (and not always on deity).

Settlers are good to have though .

Archery is expensive early. For the cost of that I'd rather sink research into pottery or BW...usually pottery unless I need to chop to gain access to good tiles.

Bronze working is an excellent early tech but IMO it should come after techs that let you improve your specials. Whether I get it before or after pottery depends on how much expansion I can get away with before my slider drops painfully (aka how much commerce my cap and 2nd city have). Going BW but then falling to 5 bpt or less and taking an eternity to get pottery/writing seems like a bad call to me. If the commerce can support chop-based expansion (or if getting enough land requires doing so), then BW can be a better call.

To beat barbs under the vast majority of normal settings, spawn bust with warriors.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

You do not need archers to survive unless you are playing huge/marathon, raging barbs, or deity (and not always on deity).

Settlers are good to have though .

Archery is expensive early. For the cost of that I'd rather sink research into pottery or BW...usually pottery unless I need to chop to gain access to good tiles.

Bronze working is an excellent early tech but IMO it should come after techs that let you improve your specials. Whether I get it before or after pottery depends on how much expansion I can get away with before my slider drops painfully (aka how much commerce my cap and 2nd city have). Going BW but then falling to 5 bpt or less and taking an eternity to get pottery/writing seems like a bad call to me. If the commerce can support chop-based expansion (or if getting enough land requires doing so), then BW can be a better call.

Now that's something I've never thought of! I usually go like a robot to BW after researching the food techs.

To beat barbs under the vast majority of normal settings, spawn bust with warriors.

But the problem is that if you're too good at it, it gets difficult to unlock HE without having an early war.

 

[CivMcNut]

I'll try my best to say a shade of something that hasn't already been said:

There is the little issue of researching Myst. if you don't start already with it.
If your strategy is focusing on worker techs to help your empire early on, you actually have to stop yourself early on enough to beat the AIs to it. Those civs with Myst. as a starting tech have a lot more reason to try and nab this wonder.

 

[Steenberger]

I always rush for a religion and then build stonehenge after my first settler - gives me a great starting point for a GP farm (never mind that I get a lot of prophets)

 

[mrt144]

Stonehenge can be great if you have the Mo going your way;

1. Stone
2. Industrious Trait
3. Mysticism Starting Tech

Then you can take the effects of it afterward;

1. SoZ requirement fulfilled.
2. Great Prophet Points
3. Culture for the city that builds it
4. Culture from the monuments
5. Happiness if Charismatic
6. Free UB for some

It's definitely handy but I don't really know how I would prioritize it to beat the AI to it, at that early point in the game. Is stone really that accessible early enough to utilize it?

Lets just do a run down of leaders that would be well suited for the Mo play:

Roosevelt
Saladin
Montezuma
Justinian I
Boudica
Brennus
Qin Shi Huang
Ramesses II
De Gaulle
Louis XIV
Bismark
Charlemagne
Huayna Capac (2)
Asoka
Ghandi
Wang Kon
Pacall II
Augustus Caesar
Isabella

Now for the list of people well suited for the effects of Stonehenge:

Lincoln
Washington
Hannibal
Boudica
Brennus
Hatshepsut
Ramesses II
Zara Yaqob
De Gaulle
Napoleon
Sitting Bull
Cyrus

Blend the two and we get:

Boudica
Brennus
Ramesses II
De Gaulle

These leaders combine both inherent opportunity and substantial benefit from Stonehenge.

(We could expand the first to include those that have mining for a Masonry research and stone hookup but since you would likely play the map, this isn't always a given.)

 

[madscientist]

Stonehenge can be great if you have the Mo going your way;


1. SoZ requirement fulfilled.
.

Excellent point here, I forgot this. Will add to the final SH report in teh stategic articles ections, thnaks!