completing a wonder

[dewback]

I remember from civ 2 that when another civilization started a wonder that you were currently working on it told you so. Then by the time the other ciiv was about to complete the wonder you were given a warning that they would complete it in the next turn so you could rush to finish it if you wanted to. I have not noticed that in civ 4. On a few occasions I suddenly lost out on the wonder I was constructing because another civ finished first. Am I missing something or has that been changed in this version?

[xxFlukexx]

Yes, that was deliberately left out of Civ4. Almost every part of the Civ3 wonder process was being thoroughly exploited.

[dewback]

So I suppose the only way to know the wonder status of another civ would be through the use of spys... otherwise you take your chances when building?

[Yosho]

(shrug) The best bet is to see what other civs have the technology needed to build the wonder. If you get the tech for the wonder first, then the odds are good.

[Hermann the Lombard]

...and if they adamantly refuse to trade a tech it may be because the associated wonder is under construction.

[Deity Dude]

Remember the Industrious trait builds wonders twice as fast. Stone 1/2's the time of Stonehedge and Pyramids - Marble 1/2's the time of most other early wonders.

[axi]

Also, if they get a Great Engineer, you're toast.

I was by far the first to get divine right, built spiral minaret ASAP, but delayed the Versailles. Finally, I decided to start building it, but without chopping. When I was almost over, I decided to trade the tech to Mansa Musa. Next turn, he gets a GE. The turn after that, he builds the Versailles. I had a couple of turns to go. The build had lasted 20 turns.

This was second worst trade I did ever, the first being selling Nationalism to Cyrus and then remembering that I actually wanted to invade Persia in a couple of turns.

[Willem]

Originally posted by dewback
So I suppose the only way to know the wonder status of another civ would be through the use of spys... otherwise you take your chances when building?

It's not quite as bad as you may think. If another civ beats you to a wonder, you get the equivalent of the Hammers you've invested in gold. So even if you lose a wonder race, you might end up with a tidy sum in your treasury. It comes in handy sometimes if you have a bunch of units you'd like to upgrade.

[joncnunn]

The reason for not trading when they are actively building a wonder is "We have our reasons."

And if one turn their willing to trade a tech and the next they aren't with no diplomatic changes is they just started the wonder.

Plus "We have our reasons" is pretty low on the list of explainations, being masked by both "we aren't willing to start trading away this technology just yet" and "we just don't like you enough."

My own personal rule of thumb is start the wonder very quickly after getting the tech first in the world and neither trade away that tech nor a direct prereq to it until the wonder is finished.

If your not industrious, an industrious civ running org religion with the resource can beat you even if you start with a 50% headstart.

Originally posted by Hermann the Lombard
...and if they adamantly refuse to trade a tech it may be because the associated wonder is under construction.

[joncnunn]

This sum is usually less than the amout you'd have gotten if you ran wealth.

(Not always because forges / factories / power supply / Iron Works multiplers don't appear to benifit the production of weath / science / culture.)

Originally posted by Willem

It's not quite as bad as you may think. If another civ beats you to a wonder, you get the equivalent of the Hammers you've invested in gold. So even if you lose a wonder race, you might end up with a tidy sum in your treasury. It comes in handy sometimes if you have a bunch of units you'd like to upgrade.

[Willem]

Originally posted by joncnunn
This sum is usually less than the amout you'd have gotten if you ran wealth.

Well certainly it would be better if you were actually able to complete the Wonder, but at least it isn't a total loss if you don't. In Civ 3 you sometimes ended up having to waste alot of production because you had way more shields than you needed to switch to something else instead.