am I not supose to build wonders????

[Shaka Naldur]

I played my first MP game and I didn´t have any problems to build Great Library and Sunt Zu, nobody build any other wonder, I think that the russians build the piramids but later than I build those wonders

we were playing on a small map and we were four humans players,

We were three newbies allied against the only experienced player,

but

it´s that a normal situation or I was just lucky???? I mean, do you guys build wonders in the beggining or could it have a negative consequence a little later in the game???

[Makeo]

Speaking purely for myself I never build early wonders. The earliest wonder I build is Michs Chapel. However I'm abnormal in this respect. Most players like to build HG, or Col, or The Wall etc.

[Ming]

Gee... that's a bunch I would love to play with
But seriously, what level were you playing. If you are playing at a level lower than Deity, the happiness wonders become less important. On a small world, the lighthouse can be almost as worthless if it's one large land mass (even though vet ships are nice).
MPE is less important too, because a few diplos are much cheaper. But that still leaves a bunch of nice wonders to go for...

In the MP games I've been in (Deity)... the wonders are goals most strive for.

[DaveV]

It depends on just how early in the game you're building the wonders. I think there's a general consensus that you have to expand your territory and build cities in the early game. One city with lots of wonders may work against the AI, but it won't against humans. The beauty of this game is the trade-offs you face, in this case betweeen expanding and devoting a lot of resources to wonder building. If you stunt your early expansion it may cost you later, but if you don't snap up those key wonders you may regret that too.

[Ming]

Yeah... it is a fine balancing act. My early cities MUST crank out some settlers. Once some other cities are established so that the expansion can continue, then I start building the wonders in my original cities... Without expansion in MP, wonders won't help

[Bohlen]

Yes, it IS a fine balancing act. Each game is different, of course, when the time comes to cut back expansion and go for the wonders. For me, that time is dependent on the land mass that you are on and the proximity to other civs. I start to build wonders when it "feels" right. Of course playing at Deity in MP can reduce your early expansion quickly without HG.

I have to admit that I am a wonder freak. I get great enjoyment out of beating others to key wonders, even early in the game. Building wonders is almost as much fun as winning.

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Proud Warrior of the O.W.L. Alliance

[Empress]

a wonder I always go for no matter what level of playing is Leonardo's and Mickes chapel. However, as others have said, if you are playing deity level then its always a race to the happiness wonders

[Rasputin00]

Against AI I now play no wonder games ( I modify rules.txt to remove them) and have begun a few experimantal MP games too.. Reaaly makes city managemnt that much more interesting with no wonders...

[Shaka Naldur]

thanks for the coments, I had just five cities and no more room to expand

I think that the next game I will try to expand my empire first and the build wonders

[Ming]

That's the way to do it Shaka Naldur... expand as fast as you can. Once you have some other cities that just crank out settlers, then you can start building wonders in your early cities. If you make the move to trade once you have monarchy, caravans can really help you build those wonders quicker

[Crustacian]

Unless you are after a happy wonder or two, are up against a known happy wonder hog, and you choose to sacrifice some things to insure an early foothold on HG or MC
Being adaptable, and versatile can help at times over the "best" over-all strategy approach.

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The journey itself is the thing~Odysseus

[Frank Johnson]

Ah but defend those wonders with care, wonders represent a huge concenration of effort. Humans aren't as stupid as AIs.....if you neglect your neighbors activities, and build wonders you may not have time to respond!

In Diplo V, I had only GL and Sun Tzu.....however I had 15 crusaders, 5 knights, and 2 pikemen sitting in one boarder city which went unnoticed. That bought me oracle (which hwas modified to never end), HG, and Shakespears.......and since I helped my ally out, I earned the rights to mikes and leos in an entirely different part of the world, which I sold later because of its odd defensive position......but just remember that....put all your eggs in one basket and you are begging people take them away.