Wonders you never build

[Guandao]

I've build all the wonders at least once, on lower difficulties. On King, I usually ignore most of the Ancient/Classical/Medieval wonders. I've never seen the AI try to build Angkor Wat because they usually never build Aqueduct districts.

 

[Depravo]

I agree that the Colossus and the Great Library desperately need an adjustment to return them to their former Civ5 popularity. I actually don't usually build the other ones you mention (as a pacifist, I have little use for Terracotta, and I find the bonuses for Hanging Gardens and Great Lighthouse very weak for my playstyle, but others may think differently).

My biggest issue with not building wonders isn't so much the buffs, but rather the placement restrictions. When I establish a city, I always have to consider future wonder placement, often finding I am lucky to have maybe one or two tiles that fit the rather strict criteria for many wonders. I am not saying that any of it has to change, only that several wonders require such specific locations that it is rare that I am able to build them.

Oddly, the same wonders are often the only ones I DO get to build in the early and mid game because the AI can't figure out how to place them. It's a rare game I beat the AI to a pre-Renaissance wonder.

 

[Archon_Wing]

These generally aren't options:

Stonehenge
Terra Cotta Army
Great Library (maybe a tiny use for Russia)
Huey Teocall

These I never get a chance to build:
Alhambra
Chichen Itza
Macarana

 

[Portinou]

I won many culture victories without great works. Both ways are viable. With CR and ET you can let your tourism output explode in a very short time and „rush“ to a victory.

Exactly. The tourism output from seaside resorts is way greater than great works + the slots for these works are most of the time too limited to win if you face for example Russia. On higher difficulty it is the way to win cultural victories.

 

[criZp]

Also, I'd say most of the religious wonders require not only specific terrain, but very unpopular builds as well.

I have no clue what religious wonders would be weak as I never play religion. But I agree that wonder placements needs to be more relaxed.

 

[KayAU]

I have grown more fond of the Terracotta Army with time. It is usually quite easy to get, and if I've done some early warfare, it is often what gets my archers the double attack promotion. I am excited to try it with Cree scouts in the expansion.

It is certainly situational, though.

 

[KayAU]

Huey Teocalli is another one I rarely bother with, as lake yields are seldom worth it.

It may be very nice for the Netherlands, though.

 

[agonistes]

Chichen Itza is already op, I would definitely not buff it.

The ones that need buffs IMO:
- Great Library (everybody knows it but I agree with the point that it is designed for culture players. I would highen science a little, like +4, and add 2 extra slots for writing masterpieces)
- Great Lighthouse (+1 Movement is meh)
- Maracana (a Colosseum with a disproportionate cost)
- Huey Teocalli (always never enough tiles tu buff)
- Mahabohdi Temple (if you go for religion, 2 apostles for such a cost is a joke)
- Stonehenge (+2 faith means you will need a holy site asap anyway)
- Venetian Arsenal (the cost is currently disproportionate. Maybe needs a +20% bonus production to naval units in addition)

Finally: all the « museum » wonders need extra slots to be worth building. I would do the following:
- Bolshoi: 2 writing, 4 music
- Broadway: 3 art, 4 music
- Hermitage: 9 art
- Sydney: 6 music

The great library slots should convert the culture into science.

 

[Bosque]

Huey Teocalli is another one I rarely bother with, as lake yields are seldom worth it.

It may be very nice for the Netherlands, though.

I am currently playing Norway, and got the God of the Sea pantheon along with the suzeraincy of Auckland. There were a number of lakes on the map. When I captured the city that had built Huey Teocali, the lake tiles were powerhouses.

Situational, yes, but it can be quite useful.

 

[spfun]

Most of them i wouldn't build in ANY situation, yes they're that bad... Some I would build only in specific circumstances e.g Hanging Gardens or Pyramids. Only Wonder i tend to get regularly is Ruhr Valley, that's about it. Pretty sad really considering I only play peaceful 4 city games most of the time... Wonders taking a slot, taking ages to build and are way to weak.

Obviously I liked the days of Civ4/5 better, unstacking the cities is more negative than positive for me.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Any wonders that people just don't care about? I was thinking about making a little wonder buff mod. Currently thinking:

terracotta army: combat bonus in friendly territory (+5?), keeping the promotion bonus while dropping the archaeologist bonus
hanging gardens: bonus food, housing, and amenities in this city (+10/5/2?)
great lighthouse: +1 sight/movement to naval units
colossus: +2 trade routes/capacity
chichen itza: +2 culture and +1 production on ALL rainforest tiles
great library: 2 free technologies

Any other wonders you think need a change?

I never build Terracotta Army, but that's because I do my warmongering asap and rush the closest capital. If you fight longer wars the instant promotion would be really good.
Hanging Gardens are pretty good with the +2 housing to the city and the growth bonus, but the problem is that the AIs really like it and you'll most likely miss it.
Great Lighthouse. Yeah, mostly useless.
Colossus is fine. It's one of the wonders I almost always try to get.
Chitchen Itza really depends on the terrain.
Great Library: waste of time.

The lake one Huey Teocalli
It grants one food and one production to all lake tiles. Just not enough lake to make ti worth while to build. AI seems to love it though

It also grants +1 amenity for every lake tile adjacent to the wonder. That can actually be really helpful. If I can get 3 amenities from it I'll build it.

Stonehenge is garbage. It's usually the first wonder built, and the early construction is better invested in Scouts, Builders, Warriors, a Monument...bayically anything else. Even if you get it, you'll still need a Holy Site for a Shrine for a Missionary before you can really make use of your religion. If it also gave a free Missionary it might be decent.

The Great Library is primarily a mechanism that allows heavy culture players to catch up on science, the fact that it also has two writing slots compliments this playstyle nicely
That being said I think doubling the flat science bonus it gives from +2 to +4 would be fine. It would certainly make it a lot more desirable without making it op.

And it unlocks from a civic that is boosted if you have two Campuses. Really defeats the point.

 

[Canadian Bluebeer]

Anything that gives a policy slot is already useful. I try and grab'em all.
Venetian: island plates is nice, same for stupid huge maps. Double ships is good. Tie in the the naval promotion natural wonder, and it gets downright stupid.
Terracotta: free promotions including yer spies! Sometimes the AI grabs it, sometimes not.

Great Lighthouse already gives +1 movement, 1 more plus sight would be handy. (particulary on larger maps)
Colossus: another trader/slot would also be nice.

Both of those tho need to go next to a harbor, and sometimes that's a cost of gold/prod. um.

Great Library is just too far down the tree.

Dunno bout the rest, I never go for culture/religous anyway.

Huey is ok if if you have some resources in the lake. Tie in with Auckland and goddess of the sea and it's rather nice.
(+6 prod per resource? um yeah) Affecting ALL of your lake tiles would really be nice.

Macarana is late, but, +2 amenities per city is REALLY nice when you've been on a conquering spree and have some large core cities.
I tend to try and save one of the GE with wonder prod for that thing.

 

[evanaurora]

And it unlocks from a civic that is boosted if you have two Campuses. Really defeats the point.

This is exactly the issue I have with the Great Library. Okay, beeline it to give you a boost in science as a culture player, whatever.... but in order to beeline it you have to get ahead of the science game anyway.

I'll build it if it hasn't gone and I'm doing a culture victory; may as well get those writing slots. But it can't possibly work to its intended purpose.

Besides, if you're a culture player things don't really snowball until the ~Renaissance or Industrial eras in my experience. A wonder in a similar vein at that stage would be much more useful.

Stonehenge is basically "the AI gets a free first religion." The Great Lighthouse is... only moderately useful on Island Plates maps with a navy-oriented civ. Estadio do Macarana comes too late to make any kind of difference. All the others I've found situationally useful, though in general wonders are somewhat less powerful than in previous civ iterations.

I'm a... little confused about how Huey Teocalli's been working in everyone else's games. It does affect all lake tiles, right? I haven't been hallucinating?

 

[Trengilly]

little confused about how Huey Teocalli's been working in everyone else's games. It does affect all lake tiles, right?

Yes it does boost ALL lake tiles in your empire. I had one crazy map that had I think 28 lake tiles in my empire - Huey Teocalli was totally awesome in that game! Plus I had Auckland, oh the good times!

I think I've build all the wonders at one time or another (if just for fun on a casual game). But the ones I have no interest in are,

Stonehenge (easier ways to get religion)
Great Library (for all the reasons already mentioned)
Angkor Wat (population is a curse - you don't want it in Civ 6)
Hanging Gardens (again, I spend most of my time trying to slow down growth).

 

[Hans Castorp]

The only real use for Great Library I find is for the GW slots. If you're going for culture and have yet to crank out a lot of amphitheatres, it can be useful to build it later on if no-one else bothers...

 

[Paideia]

I agree about Great Library being useless.. If you need the science the tile is better spent on a campus, if you need great work slots, build a theatre square. I've never been in a situation where I get that wonder in time for there to be much to be gained from it. It's still fairly expensive to build and at a point in the game, where there are plenty of other wonders to build, I just can't see the point..

Other make much more sense situationally. Huey Teocalli is absolutely fantastic those few times you start near a large lake.
I don't think the Great Lighthouse is underpowered.. The extra movement can make a difference on an Island Plates map.
I've found The Great Colossus quite handy from time to time too. That extra trade route in my early empire can ensure that I grab the city state I want or manage to scrounge up enough cash to buy that unit I need.

I rarely build Big Ben. Not because I don't think it's great, but because I almost always forget to plan for it.. Same goes for Great Ximbabwe.
I almost never build Apadana either. The AI almost always beats me to it. Same goes for Stonehenge.

I can't remember who said that the Venetian Arsenal was underpowered, but I think he/she must have been smoking something. On water maps that's the most insanely overpowered wonder. Get me that and I can rule the seas..

 

[Softly]

Great Library: A cool and historically appropriate mechanic in theory, the problem with this one is that by the time you get it built you have almost all the ancient and classic eurekas. Would be perfect if recorded history (the required civic) was one row earlier. Also wouldn’t mind if it gave one free medieval era eureka boost. This would allow early culture civs (Rome, Greece, Persia) to ignore science early on and catch up later with this wonder.

Terracotta: Not sure why people hate this one. Very situational but can be absolutely incredible. If you are playing a civ that relies on spamming units early (Aztecs, Sumeria, Scythia, Macedonia) can be absolutely devastating. Archaeologist part is just secondary unless you are England.

Great Lighthouse: Even on water heavy maps this one is just ok. It should (1) add the movement to embarked units or (2) make embarking/disembarking cheaper or (3) just +1 sight to naval melee units.

Huey Teocalli: Lake tiles are just too weak in general.

Hermitage: Terrible. Even if it came with all the great work slots pre-filled would be weaker than most wonders. Brazil, England and Russia are really the only ones who get even minimal use of this one.

Hanging Gardens: Needs an overall buff. Ancient Era wonders have a huge opportunity cost and should provide strong buffs to compensate.

 

[kaspergm]

I have grown more fond of the Terracotta Army with time. It is usually quite easy to get, and if I've done some early warfare, it is often what gets my archers the double attack promotion. I am excited to try it with Cree scouts in the expansion.

It is certainly situational, though.

I agree, Terracotta Army is not bad at all. I build it regularly, and often get a couple of units up to the last promotion, which is quite useful if you want to conquer someone. It also frequently give me several scouts with the +20 defense promotion, which is also very convenient. It may not be a top wonder, and I wouldn't object to a small buff of it, but it's in no way useless.

Obviously Great Library stands out as easily the most useless wonder, possibly of the entire game series. It's so bad that often the AI doesn't even bother to build it (I frequently see this build as late as the industrial or modern era, which is a joke in itself). It is even more baffling considering how many and easy options there seems to boost it: Apart from a bigger flat science yield, it could provide eurekas for all technologies researched by any civ at the time of build (or by any two civs, or by all civs encountered by the builder, if the former is too much), or it could provide science bonus from great works of writing, or it could even provide a copy of any existing great work of writing at the time of build, which would be a pretty neat bonus. But really, the only time I ever build this is if I can get it in a handful of turns late game and don't have anything better to build (which technically I would have, but I'm a wonder whore, so if I can get it that cheaply, I will take it).

Other wonders I rarely build (because I don't want them):
- Great Lighthouse
- Hanging Gardens
- Mont St. Michelle
- Hagia Sophia
- Broadway
- Sydney Opera House

 

[Disgustipated]

Angkor Wat (population is a curse - you don't want it in Civ 6)
Hanging Gardens (again, I spend most of my time trying to slow down growth).

Not sure why you feel this way. I love population, at least late in the game once I get Entertainment districts up. I find housing limits me in a way that my population never really gets that high anyways to cause amenity problems until I start getting neighborhoods going. I want big pop cities. Maybe it's more for RP reasons, but how can I call my empire magnificent when it's full of size 12 or 13 cities? Lame.

 

[Trengilly]

Not sure why you feel this way. I love population

I actually often play casual games where I grow large cities. But from a simple game balance viewpoint - having more than 10 people in a city is generally a negative. More people requires you to build entertainment districts, neighborhoods, seek out amenities, etc, instead of simply directing the production toward your chosen victory condition.

I feel this is one of the major faults with the game. I'm really hoping that R&F adjusts the balance and makes large cities more practical.