Great Wonder monopoly?

[Lochlann]

Hey all, quick question from someone who has yet to crack open the game: is it possible to build all of the Great Wonders, with a given civilization in a given game? I used to pull this off pretty regularly in Civ 3 (albeit not on the top two difficulty settings), and I'm just curious if this is possible in Civ 4. Great Wonders are my favorite part of the game, and I often play with the goal of getting as many as possible, quite apart from "beating" the game.

I've read the instruction manual, and I've noted the various differences in Wonder production between the two games; I'm guessing that it'd be a lot tougher now to pull of a Wonder monopoly. I just thought I'd poke around, see what folks' thoughts are.

[Mujadaddy]

Much tougher, if not impossible, on Noble ("Equal") level or above, than in previous versions. You'll miss one or two of them along the way...

You can still go for the Wonder Rush, but don't neglect your military defenses, as your neighbors will sense-and-destroy weakness on your part...

[Diadem]

It's much tougher indeed.

[Saurus]

Very, very difficult.
It could be assumed that if a certain civ has an exellent starting location, access to both stone and marble and on top of that has the industrious trait, it would perhaps not be impossible. I in fact had one game where A.I Gandhi built at least 90% of all wonders (I can't remember witch wonders he missed)
But this is the exeption - not the rule.

What makes a 100%-wonder monopoly difficult to achieve this time around is the fact that in CIV 4 you choose between several technology paths depending of the choise of your playstyle.
In the beginning you have to choose between the religious path, the construction path and the knowledge path - all of witch offers some wonders later on.
Thus to get everything is very difficult.
You will most certainly miss at least some of the early wonders.

But grabbing as many wonders as possible is not really a game winning strategy in Civ 4 IMO.
They have a less dramatic effect on gameplay than in earlier civs.

[Saurus]

Double post ..sorry ...

[gentle]

Doable on Noble and below.
Definetely impossible on highest difficulty, not sure about the ones in between.

[joncnunn]

Probably only doable at the Noble level if you are Gandi; also have both stone and marble near your capital, and in addition turn on the always peace rule.

[Enigma_Nova]

Why Ghandi?
You need to research the techs for Pyramids, Stonehenge, Parthenon, Great Lighthouse and so on, and since the AI hates trading tech that would let you build a wonder you'd have to research it yourself anyway.

Fast Worker Chop + Industrious?
Pshaw, Qin's Financial for tech + Industrious > That.

[Lochlann]

Cool, thanks for the impressions everyone. What would you say are the best civ traits for getting wonders? Industrious, obviously, but what about the second one? Philosophical would appear to be a good choice, to use Great Persons to rush the Wonders, but alas! there is no Industrious + Philosophical leader out there. (Not surprising...) I'm thinking Financial would be good, or perhaps Creative...but, again, these are pre-game thoughts, so I don't really know.

As for the Wonder Rush not being a viable win-strategy: ah well. I just likes them Wonders.

[Arrian]

Qin (IND/FIN) is a good choice for crazy wonder building. I don't really see how creative would help at all. Ditto Aggressive. Each of the other traits will help in indirect ways (EXP means you can chop more or grow bigger w/o health concerns, SPI gives you turn advantage via no anarchy, and helps with happiness via cheap temples, ORG just saves you money over time).

You will want a start that gives you one of the key wonder resources (stone, marble). If I had to choose, I'd choose stone... but marble is awfully nice too.

In my current prince game, the only wonders I've lost so far have been:

Great Lighthouse (ouch, built EARLY by the AI)
Parthenon (I didn't bother. No marble, not that great a wonder)
Hagia Sophia (I beelined elsewhere, I don't even have Engineering yet)
Chitzen Itza (crap wonder, IMO, especially since I've got my own continent)

I'm sure somebody could build them all at Noble with a lot of chop-assisting, but I'm not him.

-Arrian

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Arrian
You will want a start that gives you one of the key wonder resources (stone, marble). If I had to choose, I'd choose stone... but marble is awfully nice too.

I think I've had marble or stone in my starting city either once or zero times. I've had some within 5-7 tiles about 3 or 4 times out of maybe 30+ maps - and one of those was AU100-A. So these resources are as rare as hens teeth in the early game for me. I also play with random leaders every time, and don't usually get IND.

So, I've only ever built the Pyramids once, ever - and that was before I had a clue what the civics did and probably didn't use it.

I think a Gt Wonder 'monopoly' is only a meaningful concept at the baby levels. It's probably more interesting to try and beat the game without building any wonders.

[Arrian]

I don't mean in the starting city radius... just nearby (2nd city). I've had stone actually in my capital radius 2 or 3 times (in my current game, I have stone right next to Washington ).

-Arrian

[Crossfire]

I get marble close by all the time. I think I have only had stone and marble in 2 games and I was a wonder machine those times. Stone just seems rare in my games. Copper has been really rare lately too. These things seem to go in spurts though so hopefully soon I will start getting stone and copper and less marble and iron.

[joncnunn]

On building a lot of wonders near your capital, but not neccesarily a monopoly:

1. An industrial leader. First the raw bonus producing them and for the classical & later era ones that cheap forge.

2. Stone resource nearby; which is the most popular double speed wonder.

3. The city must have productive. Plains (farmed) and/or Forest. Surplus citizens using specalities that produce shields.

4. Expansive is indirect, mostly the half price granery -> faster growth sooner, but also the +2 health which in my game is harder to come by than happiness.

5. Gaundi's good for not losing production while changing civics. Say to Organized Religion and/or Bureachy. Yes, Fincincial is better for getting the tech to begin with.

[Guynemer]

In a Noble game as Louis, I built every wonder except for the Lighthouse, the shrines of the two religions I didn't found, and the Elevator since I wasn't near the equator.

It's possible, but very difficult.