Wonder Guide

[Easy Rhino]

I was happy to get a leader to let me rush the pyramids in my recent game. me likey pyramids very much.

Shakespeare is kinda handy. With that and normal happiness improvements, you pretty much know that town's gonna stay happy.

I superoptimized when I built Evolution. I beelined research straight to that. Made sure I finshed my research one turn before finishing ToE, and bought every tech I could from the AI to backfill. Then I got two brand new techs that no one had (instant battleships, wheee!)

ER

[smellymummy]

obviously every player has his/her own preferences over wonders. Making a set guide of what wonder is the best and what is the worst is truly biased upon one's own civ experience, and I believe also (for newer players), based upon civ2's experience.

[NZrevenge]

It's a pity that most wonders are useless on Archipelago maps... Personally I think that some wonders which are normally limited to it's continent (Art of War, Pyramids, Hanging Gardens, etc.) should also be carried through the trade network to other continents (harbours, airports).

Art of War and Hanging Gardens are obvious as to why, since they affect the whole continent merely because your citizens actually travel to the wonder to recieve it's benefits (it's just simplified for CivIII purposes). Why the Pyramids as well? Because I'm as sure as hell that back in ancient times, countries on the other side of the Mediteranian also benefited from the pyramids, and I'm just as sure they wouldn't have walked all the way around that very big sea in order to receive those benefits!

However, Hoover Dam should remain only it's continent, as intercontinental powerlines might be a bit unweildly...

[Master Marcus]

Well, I can get many great wonders at Regent, but there's a huge gap between it and the Monarch level where the AI always beat me in wonders until mid-game. So at Monarch+ I don't even think building any from the Ancient era. Anyway as for the Great Library, I'm with the school of gamers who are thinking of it as of little importance since you can easily trade techs with money ( 70-90% economy in most Ancient era, I begin investing more on science in the Middle Ages ) - especially when playing on larger maps, where in Ancient era you'll never really speed up your research faster than the max cap (32 turns).

[Hywel Dda]

This guide appears to be shaping up nicely, and its nice to see time being given to the question of Wonders which has been largely ignored by the strategy threads so far.

I must side with those, however, who have questioned the worth of the Great Wall. I rarely get involved in wars when my city size is small, and if I do I've found that attack is always the best form of defence. Therefore, walls are pointless and thus the Great wall is also pointless.

I think I would only even consider it if I had serious barbarian problems, but since they can't capture cities in CivIII, I generally ignore it even then.

[Rosacrux]

Ancient
Colossus- 2 Moderate effects, comes pretty handy when you got a nice coastal city plus the AI doesn’t go after it too much.

Great Library-2 I can’t understand the fuss about this one (but then, again, I’ve yet to try on Emperor-Deity, so maybe there is a reasoning behind this). Hard to get, expires very fast. Not worth it.

great lighthouse-1: Eh, what? Well, ok, for an archipelago map, I give it a 2.

great wall-1: Not a “0” because in some ICS tactics it can prove useful – but the cost/effectiveness sum-up is really bad about this wonder. Never bother with it.

Hanging Gardens-1- Expires soon and I can’t get it anyways (I go for Republic ASAP so no Monarchy for me)

Oracle-2: Not bad and attainable too – if only it lasted a bit longer…

Pyramids-5+ : The absolute must for any above-Regent game, pretty hard to get but if you have a great starting point (with a cow or two, for instance) you have a shot at it. Priceless in any serious strategy (and you can control population with various ways – rushbuild in despotism, make many workers and of course settlers – they shouldn’t call this civ3, they should call it The Land Grab

Medieval

Adam smiths-2: Nothing like the money powerhouse of civ2, still is somewhat good and you can get it moderately easy.

Copernicus- 3: If you are going to build that super-science city, you need this. Go for it.

Bach's Cathedral-4: Precious little gem and I seem to get it 50-50 with the AI.

Lenardos Workshop- 2: The best Civ2 wonder is now a mediocre one. Nuttin!

Magellons-2: Never got it, it’s not on my top priorities and the comp seems to like it.

Sistine chapel-5: Go get it, in my last game it gave me a frigging WLTCD in 2/3 of my cities.

Newtons-3: Build this with conjunction with Copernicus and you wont fall back in science any more

Shakespear-1: Ridiculus… but gives a nice culture output. But the comp likes it so it usually takes it.

Sun Tzus-3: Useful, to get those free barracks. But the era has better wonders – try to get those first and if the comp beats you to one of those, switch to S.T.’s (that’s the way I got it a couple of times).

Industrial:

Hoover Dam-5: Very, very important. Clean boost to your production – just in time to churn out those tanks

United Nations 0 or 5: IF you play for a dip victory (I disable the option) it’s a 5, otherwise a 0.

Theory of Evolution-2: I usually have the tech lead by the time I can get this, so if the AI beats me to it, it doesn’t bother me much.

Universal Suffrage 5 – I get it all the time and it’s priceless (because you can actually fight a war in Democracy)

Modern:

Cure for cancer:3- Not bad, not bad. If you need the content bonus at this point, it’s usefull.

Lengetivity- 1: I get it easily but it’s useless IMNSHO

SETI- 3: Add this to your prime science city and …wow!

Manhatten project-0: This is flawed… it should be a small wonder.

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Sheakespear Theatre

I know its prolly the most useless wonder out there if everything goes to plan, but in most games (especially upper level) things usually don't.

I have had one great use for it ... I conquered an enemy city on a coast so i could get my hands on saltpeter (i would thus be the only person on my continent to have gunpowder with this) ... the problem? the city was huge but garbage .... i quelled the rebellion but i had about 7 entertainers still .... so i used a great leader to build the theare and if i hadn't, i prolly would have lost the city to disorder or starvation or whatever ... the culture helped a lot too - my borders expanded so i got more saltpeter to trade to my allies and i secured my borders that way too

Helped me out that one time ... just thought i'd share that with you all

Cheers!
~Alex

[Stegalin]

The UN

I don't think anyone has noticed this yet, but if Diplomatic victory is turned off you don't even have the option to build it.

Of course, I think this is wrong. I wanted to build it for the culture alone, but it didn't appear.

But in the spirit of this thread:
If you accidentily left diplomatic victory on (I the win is kinda lame I think) you must build it, for the reasons others stated. If it's off, What UN? What adavnce gives me that? Huh? did someone build it already? I didn't get a message.. oh well.

[Bad Ax]

Great Lighthouse -- The usefulness of this wonder is inversely related to both land coverage and land connectivity. On a pangea map it's a zero, do not get unless you want its culture. On Continental maps at lower degrees of land coverage, it's pretty good, but its usefulness depends on your positioning. If you're on a larger continent with only a few other AI opponents, better to expand by conquest than by exploration. On archipelago maps, this is excellent, a 4, and gets better the less land coverage you have. First of all, the ability to sail across sea (and in the initial release, ocean) squares means you're far more likely to encounter other civilizations, which maximizes your opportunities for useful trades of technologies and resources. Second, it gives you a first-rate advantage in finding new areas to expand into. However, if you're playing an expansionist angle, NEVER TRADE YOUR MAP on the archipelago setting. This preserves your unique knowledge of suitable expansion territories for as long as possible. Give your opponents money or tech in trade for their map, but never grant them a peek at yours.

Shakespeare's Theatre -- I would definitely advise building this if you're going for a culture victory, especially the single-city variant. If culture's not your thing, this isn't very useful (in original release). I tend to stack high-culture improvements in a single city, to have that potential victory on the back burner, JIC, so I usually build it when I get a chance.

Longevity -- Don't you wish *this* useless POS would get booted in the patch... perhaps if its prerequisite was changed to Medicine it might be useful, but I have enough problems with cities growing and starving back as it is... this only adds to the aggravation. Besides, what's longevity done for modern civilizations except subsidize Golden Girls reruns?

Great Wall -- Well, it looks kind of cool in the city display... Seriously, with even somewhat adequate defensive units in your cities this is quite useless.

Magellan's Expedition -- Same as with the Lighthouse, though in this case map size becomes more of a consideration. On a tiny map, even with archipelago land distribution, this is not really worthwhile. On a huge map, this is essential to maintaining naval power, and on archipelago is crucial to all military capability and later-game expansion.

Manhattan Project -- Total waste of time unless you are playing Chieftain, in which case you'll want it so you can lob nukes at your opponent's spearmen.

Intelligence Agency -- The expense of spy missions makes this a very low priority. Remember that your enemies have to pay just as much as you, so even the "detect mole" mission isn't of much use. Consider also that the most damaging spy mission (propaganda) can be defeated by the simple expedient of becoming a democracy, which you need to do anyway in order to have any hope of controlling corruption.

Pentagon -- Armies are virtually guaranteed wins whether you've got three or four times the hit points of the basic unit. If they attacked multiple times per turn, the extra capacity *might* prove useful, but just getting to the point where you can make this sucker takes so much effort it's not really worthwhile. This one's a turkey.

[David Weldon]

In regards to the expiration of wonders, they all expire only when the player who owns them gets the appropriate advance. I was in a very early game where I had magellan and an old war-mongering island-trapped hack had the lighthouse, and both were working at the same time!

You don't have a lot of choice with the Great Library, but with other wonders you can simply skirt around the advance which makes them obsolete if you want to keep them going for a little longer. It doesn't matter if some other civ has the advance or not.

You can prove this to yourself by trading for the tech which makes something obsolete... or trading the tech which makes something obsolete to your opponent, just to screw him up...

[War4ever]

eventually all of you will become good enough so that you dn't build wonders...... you capture them....

can a wonder be destroyed....i bombarded a city for 80turns just for the hell of it......and i destroyed everything but the wonder....and if you take a size one city it doens't disappear like in civ1/2

so is the only way to destroy a wonder to raze the city

[Andy]

I understand the lack of appreciation for the great lighthouse. However, in a recent game it pulled me from last place and into first. I was alone on a relatively small contenent (think Austrialia) which I had all to my self. I knew I was being left behind technologically by my isolation so I built the great lighthouse. After being built I was able to repeatedly trade my maps of the world for multiple techs, and huge per turn gold payments (15-20). This made me catch up really quickly and the AI never recovered.

I realize that this wonder isn't for every situation, but it saved my butt that day.

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Yeah, wonders are on a 'need only' basis ...

Sometimes i find it better to build more military and city improvements where needed instead of concentrating on a wonder ... of course, if you need the culture a wonder is fantastic - and (of course) if you get a great leader, what else will do with him/her??? I know i know ... armies, but lets get real here

Cheers!
~Alex

[Kuciwalker]

Many of you are forgetting one of the important aspects of wonders: culture.

Though Shakespeare's Theater is bad as a wonder, it gives you enormous culture, especially after 1000 years, when it doubles to 12 per turn. Copernicus' Observatory costs the same and gives the same benefit as Newton's University, but it gives 1 less culture, so I will always go for Newton's University unless I can get both only if I build the Observatory first. I build many of the happiness wonders for their high culture, often more than for the happiness benefit.

[Alex 14]

Thanks everyone for the support, I have now successfully completed the enitire guide with all 32 wonders and just 4000 charecters under the word limit.

Out of common interest what are your top 5 favourite wonders?