This article is primarily inspired by Ision’s 4 Rules of Wonder Addiction Article, an excellent general guide to newbies on how to escape wonder addiction as a major hindrance to improving your Civ3 gaming ability. Seeing that, as far as I’m aware, no one has actually posted a thread like this, and that, perhaps worryingly, I have the time to write it, I thought a general reference guide to the function, value and strategies of all the great wonders could be useful for the Strategy Articles Forum or War Academy to have, as an expansion on the basic wonders information link on the Civfanatics main pages. I welcome anyone’s comments to the strategies I put forward in this thread (and any typo corrections) and will also update the entries to include other’s views if they make good sense to me and are phrased clearly enough. I also note that all the strategies I’m suggesting are in agreement with Ision’s basic rules, though I may vaunt the value of various wonders and how useful they may be, like him I warn against building more than a few wonders per game, many of the wonders are powerful and an extreme help in the game, but you should under no circumstance attempt to build all of them, or even all of the best ones. Instead, I hope this advice can help players in selecting which few select wonders, above others, are most valuable to their style of gameplay and their particular game.
Basically I’ve shown every wonder in the game in roughly technological order of being able to build (though obviously such an order isn’t exact) described in the following format. To find a wonder’s description easily you can always use the ‘Find’ function on your internet browser.
WONDER NAME (The name of the wonder)
Cost: ### (Its cost to build in shields without accelerated production).
Technology Required: (Which technology enables this wonder).
Other Requirements: (As you’d expect, anything else required to build the wonder such as strategic resources, river’s, other structures etc.).
Rendered Obsolete By: (What technology stops the wonder providing its effects).
Traits: (The traits, such as industrious, scientific, expansionist etc. of this wonder. The trait of a wonder determines what civilisations it can trigger golden ages for. Note that small wonders cannot trigger golden ages).
Effect: (What effect the wonder has on your empire).
Culture: (The base culture per turn this wonder produces).
Analysis: (My strategic analysis of the wonder, its relative worth to build, what its useful for, what its not useful for etc. etc.).
My analyses of all the wonders come from having played Civ3 since it was released, and being an avid fan of Civ2 and SMAC before that. This whole article is written from the standpoint of people playing Civ3 Conquests, however I have tried to identify where there are differences with PTW and Civ3 Vanilla, so this article should be useful for all players. Hope people find this useful.
THE PYRAMIDS
Cost: 400
Technology Required: Masonry
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Industrious, Religious, Agricultural
Effect: Places a granary in every city on the same continent. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: Along with the Colossus, the Pyramids are one of the first wonders all civilisations are able to build, and as such almost all players will have found themselves building the Pyramids at one stage or another, you can hardly fail to notice their there. The usefulness of the Pyramids tends to depend on the level of difficulty your playing the game at, and how capable you anticipate being able to keep your citizens happy. A granary in every city on the same continent is a massive bonus to growth, and can ensure that all your cities reach max population within the first couple of dozen game turns, which obviously is a major advantage. Certainly if your planning on pumping out workers and settlers, playing an extreme expansionist strategy, then the Pyramids is a good choice for a wonder, your cities will grow at double normal speed, thus, as long as you have adequate production in all cities, you can expect to be able to produce workers/settlers in twice the normal numbers without bringing your cities down to population 0. And a hefty culture value, and tourist attraction flag, as well as never becoming obsolete means that the Pyramids will continue to be useful for the entire game, so they are definitely worth considering for construction.
There are really only two main drawbacks that need to be considered. 1) Their expense: at 400 shields, the Pyramids are the second most expensive wonder of the Ancient Era (along with the Great Library) and it requires serious consideration about whether their bonus is worth the significant effort and wasted build time, most probably in your capital city, which it takes to build them, particularly so early in the game. This is the single main reason why I tend to avoid them. A granary in ever city is very powerful, but at the very start of the game you really need to be more concerned with building workers, settlers, warriors and your early infrastructure, not a 400 shield wonder. So be wary of how much you may be sacrificing to build the Pyramids, especially when you may not succeed to even get them at all. 2) There is, of course, a hidden drawback to double population growth, particularly on the higher difficulty levels. Higher growth means more citizens, and more citizens inevitably means more unhappy citizens and greater chance of civil disorder (or if your using entertainers, then gross waste of that extra pop. that makes the wonder a lot less worthwhile). If you feel that your not going to be able to keep all those extra people happy, particularly if your low on luxuries, or intend to use a democratic government, then be wary of Pyramids, it may actually hurt you more than help you, or at least enough to make it not worth the investment.
THE COLOSSUS
Cost: 200
Technology Required: Bronze Working
Other Requirements: Coastal City
Rendered Obsolete By: Flight
Traits: Expansionist, Commercial, Seafaring
Effect: +1 Commerce in each tile in the city already producing commerce. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 3
Analysis: The cheapest wonder in the game, and with good reason, the Colossus is at best a luxury and at worst, damaging. Ok its cheap and it stays around for a fair period, but so early in the game you definitely have bigger priorities that that extra 21 commerce at the absolute maximum, and that is if somehow you managed to get a size 21 city while Colossus was in effect. In all likelihood the city where your building this is only size 6 at the max at that time, and even with every square producing commerce that’s what…+6 Commerce? Translating into 3 extra gold per turn on a 50% Tax ratio. If you’ve got a coastal city before this wonder is built by the AI, then build galleys and settlers, harbours and military units, try an find other Civilisations overseas, trust me…the trade in technology and resources from them will far outweigh the bonus from the Colossus. The only actual reason I can ever see to build this is on the low difficulty settings, where your so in advantage of the AI its never going to be able to build it before you, and where you have a string of coastal cities producing naval units for exploration. Or…it may be worth building on very small maps, where the commerce bonus is more pronounced relative to your total commerce bonus. Otherwise, forget it.
THE ORACLE
Cost: 300
Technology Required: Mysticism
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: Theology
Traits: Religious
Effect: Doubles the number of happy faces produced by all temples in the empire. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: Another wonder which can help and/or hinder the Oracle is once again, in my opinion, often not worth the effort. Principally this is due to its low period of actual effectiveness, theology may be as few as half a dozen techs away when you can build the Oracle. Culture 4 and a Tourist Attraction makes in a bit more worthwhile but still, you can easily do without this wonder unless your in dire trouble with your citizens, and even then, your only going to find that suddenly all your cities pop into civil disorder when Theology is researched. That’s the thing, even if you get use out of the Oracle, the sudden removal of its effects when you get to Theology can be an unwelcome surprise to many players, who then have to hurriedly build cathedrals and colosseums as a priority. The Temple Of Artemis, available in C3C amplifies both the good and bad side of this wonder, with both wonders you can be guaranteed a very content citizenry, without building temples in all the cities, until the middle ages, but once you get Theology, and then Education, you better have some contingency plan in place very quickly or your going to be set back some way. In summary, the Oracle can be useful, but always be wary of it becoming obsolete, and plan ahead. Usually, its not worth the effort, but I do not condemn the player who likes to build it, I just hope their careful.
THE GREAT LIGHTHOUSE
Cost: 300
Technology Required: Map Making
Other Requirements: Coastal City
Rendered Obsolete By: Magnetism
Traits: Expansionist, Commercial, Seafaring
Effect: +1 to all Sea Movement Values, no naval units sink in sea terrain. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 2
Analysis: Now this is more like it, +1 to all sea movement, and your civilisation is free from the risk of galleys and other early naval units sinking at sea, for 300 production. By the time you have Map Making, you ought to be able to give a bit more consideration to wonder-building, even on the high difficulty settings, where early wonder building is almost entirely off limits, if your planning a naval strategy, the Great Lighthouse can be a good one-wonder to choose. Like many wonders the actual effectiveness of the great lighthouse depends on your strategy, and the time of game your playing. On Archipelago maps, and/or maps with high sea percentage, its possibly the bets wonder of the Ancient Era. On Pangaea maps with only 60% ocean…you can certainly give it a miss. But even if your strategy doesn’t need it, respect the worth of the Great Lighthouse, even if your not planning to win the game by naval dominance (which is unlikely with Galleys and Caravels after all), the Great Lighthouse’s value is still almost as great, largely because principally its advantage is not in the power of your navy, its in its speed. +1 Naval movement early on gives you a major advantage in exploration, allowing you to reach islands and continents the AI never will until Caravels come along, as well as transporting settlers to settle them, give you a lot of expansion points the AI will not reach for another era.
Furthermore, because you can come into contact with other Civs earlier than the AI, this can keep you up with the most advanced AI Civs through having many trading partners and, as opposed to most games, you may even be able to trade away YOUR World Maps in exchange for cash. I therefore maintain that the Great Lighthouse is really more useful than it’s late game twin, Magellan’s Voyage, as the latter is really only useful for a nation relying on seapower, whereas the Great Lighthouse provides benefits to almost every nation, and I recommend seriously considering it if you have a good production coastal city and a couple of galleys in the water.
THE GREAT LIBRARY
Cost: 400
Technology Required: Literature
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: Education
Traits: Scientific
Effect: Gain for free any technology advance discovered by two other civilisations. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 6
Analysis: While I don’t share Ision’s total antipathy for the Great Library, since his reasons for avoiding it at all costs are primarily due to it preventing newbies from practising essential skills at the later levels, which is true, rather than actual in game disadvantages, I still feel it to be a difficult wonder to handle. On the one hand, gaining for free any technology discovered by two other civilisations seems great, coupled with the second highest culture of any structure in the game, one would expect the Great Library to be a massive help on the higher difficulty levels where the AI can simply run away with the tech tree…the Great Library could keep you up the standard surely? Well admittedly, it can be a help, and you may get a few techs for free which you would otherwise have had to research or buy but overall the Great Library seems to fall short. It costs as much as the Pyramids, 400 shields, but whereas the former will give you value for the entire game, the Great Library becomes obsolete after less than an era. Furthermore, it’s prequisite is Literature, not required for era advancement and, despite giving you Libraries, almost certainly being one of the least useful techs of the ancient era. I do accept that it is powerful, and if you feel it can be a great help then go ahead and build it. But otherwise you can afford to give it a miss and gain the experience from trading for techs, and using the city that would be building the Great Library for frankly better priorities like workers, settlers and military units.
THE MAUSOLEUM OF MAUSOLLOS
Cost: 200
Technology Required: Philosophy
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Scientific, Seafaring
Effect: Produces 3 happy faces in the city where its built. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 2
Analysis: Well I mean, there’s not much to say really is there. In honesty I have NEVER built the Mausoleum, nor can I see any particular reason for doing so. Its not that its bad its just…well…I can never really be bothered. Nor have I found any one else who really wants to. I mean on the face of it there’s no real reason not to build it, 3 happy faces is nice, and it only costs 200, and is a tourist attraction, and it comes with Philosophy which there is a good incentive for making a drive for anyway…but equally there’s no real reason TO build it either. The 3 happy faces could be useful in a city by a river, which is therefore likely to grow to size 12 fairly early on and could do with the extra happiness, that I can concede. I guess like the Colossus, this one’s basically a luxury, if you have a city with really nothing to do, then sure, build it, other wise just let it pass you without noticing it.
STATUE OF ZEUS
Cost: 200
Technology Required: Mathematics
Other Requirements: Ivory
Rendered Obsolete By: Metallurgy
Traits: Militaristic, Religious
Effect: Produces a 3.2.2 +1 Hit Point Ancient Cavalry unit every 5 turns. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: The Statue of Zeus is without doubt an exceptionally powerful wonder, 200 shields (the same as the mediocre Colossus and Mausoleum) which produces an Ancient Cavalry every 5 turns for an Era and a half plus a hefty culture rating a tourist attraction. The great thing about it is that you can essentially rely on it to build a good portion of your needed military for you without any further investment during the early game, build it and then most of your cities can relax after building a couple of defensive units and focus on infrastructure, while the Stature just sits there and churns out the extremely respectable Ancient Cavalry units, swordsmen with +1 Movement and Hit Points. So if ever I can actually get the Statue of Zeus, I make a decent bid for it. Of course that’s just the problem, requiring Ivory limits this wonder to at most 3 or 4 civilisations on a Huge map, probably just 1 or 2 on a small map, so its not entirely up to you whether you build it or not. If you do have Ivory, then there’s the bonus of not having to compete with nearly as many AI’s for this one, besides, its so cheap its not a great waste of a city’s building time for other things.
The only real problem with the SoZ that it tends to dictate your early game strategy, rather than the other way around. If your getting an ancient cavalry every 5 turns, you really ought to be militaristic and put them to good use, they’re not going to remain so powerful for long, and this can put a dent in your early reputation. Using them just in defence is frankly a waste, so for a player who has no intention of starting wars early on, there’s little point in building the Statue. Oh…and if your going for republics or democracies, then probably best to steer clear of this one. Firstly you want to avoid wars anyway, and secondly, with such limited unit support you can find the steadily expanding pile of Ancient Cavalry eating away at your funds every turn.
THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS
Cost: 500
Technology Required: Polytheism
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: Education
Traits: Religious
Effect: Places a temple in every city on the continent. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: I’ve already covered the Temple of Artemis under my entry for the Oracle, and what I said for that wonder applies to the ToA as well. Essentially a double-edged sword, ok the temple in every city is an extremely time saving and powerful ability, but when they all vanish with education, I question its worth. As I said with the Oracle, you’re suddenly going to have to bring in some alternative means of entertaining your citizenry, which wastes time at a point in the game when a stable empire base is what your relying on for some expansion, be it technologically, culturally, militarily etc. and even more so than the Oracle, I seriously doubt if the expense of the ToA is worth the benefits. A massive 500 shields is the most expensive wonder of the ancient era, and the ToA is far from the best. I bear no disrespect for players who make a drive for this wonder, perhaps with the Oracle too, then leap frog their way up the chain of happiness-generating wonders, getting the Sistine Chapel almost as soon as the ToA becomes obsolete, but still, I’d tend to avoid it. But there are situations where it could be helpful, that I can see, probably cultural victories or peaceful republic/democracy games could gain some worthwhile use out of it. Furthermore, responses to this article’s first draft raised the point that the extra temples can be handy for faster paced border expansion, which I accept is an added bonus in expansionist strategies, and in preventing the AI getting those irritating cities within your territory. However, unless these advantages of the ToA are of serious value to you, my advice is to steer clear.
THE GREAT WALL
Cost: 300
Technology Required: Construction
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: Metallurgy
Traits: Militaristic, Industrious
Effect: Places a wall in every city on the continent, doubles combat bonuses against barbarians. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 2
Analysis: I remember with fondness the days of Civilisation 2, when the Great Wall had that tendency to make a civilisation militarily invincible for a good portion of the game on the easier settings, and forced every civilisation to offer you peace whenever you negotiated with them. Needless to say the Great Wall underwent a significant rehash for Civ3 and has re-emerged from Sid Meier’s workshop a significant down-powered edifice. I shall briefly back note of the doubled combat bonuses against barbarians, which in itself is fairly gracious since I cannot imagine anyone building the Great Wall for the barbarian bonus…I can’t imagine anyone having a significant enough problem with barbarians to build a wonder generally, even on Rampaging barbarian levels, except perhaps on the highest difficulty settings. Obviously the walls are the major feature, the main problem being that walls become totally useless in your cities once you can build aqueducts and grow above size 6, in other words, once you have researched Construction which is mutually the prerequisite for both Aqueducts and the Great Wall. So in all fairness to the great Chinese wonder which I used to think could be seen from space (having now found out this to be a myth), I’m not sure in Civ3 it really warrants my time, or anyone else’s. The great exception to this rule is obviously if you have a large number of small cities that are never, or not for a long time, going to grow beyond size 6, or if your in an early game war which you really desperately need all those walls for. But in every other situation I can’t see any reason for investing the time and shields for a dozen or so walls that will vanish with Metallurgy anyway, even if you do have size 6 or less cities at that point.
THE HANGING GARDENS
Cost: 300
Technology Required: Monarchy
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: Steam Power
Traits: Industrious, Agricultural
Effect: +3 Happy faces in city where built, +1 Happy face in all other cities. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: In comparison to the Mausoleum of Mausollos, the Oracle and the Temple of Artemis, the Hanging Gardens is certainly a much more respectable and (in respect to the ToA) a cheaper happiness giving wonder, which also lasts longer than both the Oracle and ToA. It gives the same bonus as the MoM to the city where its built, +1 to all other cities, though it does expire with Steam Power. If you need a happiness wonder I’d recommend it, and it comes late enough in the Ancient Era for you to now perhaps be able to afford the time and effort, with the added factor that, of course, if you do fail to get it, you can often use the investment to make a bid for Sun Tzu’s Art of War or Leonardo’s Workshop instead, if you time your research correctly. There’s not a lot of subtlety to the Hanging Gardens really, they give a decent happiness bonus, are perhaps very useful for a shift to republic after Despotism, to offset some of the lost happy faces from no military police, or to compensate for a lack of early luxuries which you may well have managed to obtain by the time the wonder become obsolete just over an era away. Its really down to personal decision, if your at peace, have a good healthy infrastructure, and are just starting finishing the ancient era, then you can probably afford to go for the Hanging Gardens, whereas if your under attack, have a mound of priorities already and are playing on the high difficulty levels where every turn’s building counts, then your not going to die because you missed this one out.
SUN TZU’S ART OF WAR
Cost: 600
Technology Required: Feudalism
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Militaristic
Effect: Places a Barracks in every city on the continent.
Culture: 2
Analysis: Now I do wish to be very clear: there is NO SUCH THING as a must-have wonder. None of the wonders are so awesomely powerful that you absolutely have to build them every game or you will lose, or even do very badly. However, if I am playing a militaristic game, planning to use military force for expansion on any non-Archipelago map, then certainly Sun Tzu’s Art of War, together with Leonardo’s Workshop (see below) comes pretty damn close. Both these two wonders are exceptionally useful on their own, for STAW, a barracks in every city on the same continent is a fantastic way to keep a healthy military going, unless your on an extremely tightly spaced continent with only half a dozen cities. Every single city will produce veteran ground units, which, obviously you eventually want to achieve anyway, but this saves you the bother of using time to build barracks in every new city you found/capture, and stops you having to pay the maintenance for a barracks in every city. Just build this in one high production city and all your low production cities can focus heir early infrastructure on temples and marketplaces instead.
But, if you manage to nab BOTH Sun Tzu’s Art of War AND Leonardo’s Workshop, both of them become even more advantageous: half priced upgrades for all units, automatically being able to upgrade units in every city on the continent…you should be laughing all the way to the enemy’s capital. And…as a further plus, neither wonder becomes obsolete, build them and you’ll be reaping the bonuses the whole game. To keep this analysis balanced, you’ll sure as hell pay for it though, a massive 600 shield investment required for both wonders, but this almost always pays off. Even if your not planning a heavily military strategy, consider STAW, its exceptionally useful in maintaining a healthy defensive military too, when you really probably don’t want to be building all those barracks otherwise. I nearly always at least try and get Sun Tzu’s Art of War, especially considering that even if I fail, it puts me in a damn good position to get Leonardo’s Workshop just a couple of techs later, which, of the two, perhaps I’d desire most of all.
LEONARDO’S WORKSHOP
Cost: 600
Technology Required: Invention
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Militaristic
Effect: All upgrade costs for units are half priced. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 2
Analysis: The second in the early middle-ages wonder super-pair, I tend to find Leonardo’s Workshop even more useful that Sun Tzu’s Art of War, though it has no other convenient wonder just after it to funnel the resources into if the AI gets there first. Most of the strategy for this wonder I’ve already discussed above but just to repeat the essential points: this wonder is an investment, and you can’t really afford to fail to get it if your going to try for it, unless you have another wonder or small wonder ready to swap to shields into, but nonetheless, for both militaristic players and players simply intent on keeping an up to date healthy defence force with the latest technology for minimum cost, this wonder is a great buy. If you imagine reaching the industrial age, and upgrading 80 musket men to infantry (90 gold each) in this upgrade operation alone LW saves you 3600 gp. So unless the situation forbids and you have other priorities, go for Leonardo’s Workshop, get it and you won’t forget it in a hurry.
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
Cost: 300
Technology Required: Chivalry
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: Steam Power
Traits: Militaristic, Religious
Effect: Produces a 5.3.1 Crusader unit every 5 turns.
Culture: 2
Analysis: The second unit-producing wonder follows most of the same rules as it’s predecessor, the Statue of Zeus, though generally I find the Knights Templar the less desirable of the two. There are more important wonders around at this stage in the game, it’s prerequisite is a non-required tech for the era advancement and Crusaders are not the best offensive units if you can build knights. The upshot of the Knights Templar of course is that it doesn’t require any resources to build, so everyone can have a go at it and admittedly, for such a low priced wonder it be pretty darn useful for the Middle Ages era. The occasion when I can see a player making a real attempt to get the Knights Templar is if you find yourself without horses and/or Iron entering the Middle Ages, because without them Archers, and then Longbowmen are the best units you can build, and your not going far in any war with them, while Crusaders have the best attack power until Cavalry, and with the defence of a Pikeman. In most other situations however even a militaristic player who does research Chivalry can simply take the knights and leave Knights Templar alone.
THE SISTINE CHAPEL
Cost: 600
Technology Required: Theology
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Religious
Effect: Doubles happy faces produced by Cathedrals in all cities. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 6
Analysis: Another high priced early Middle-Ages wonder, and worth it, the Sistine Chapel is far superior to its early age partner the Oracle. For a start it never becomes obsolete, secondly it doubles Cathedrals (3 happy faces each, doubled to 6) rather than temples (1 happy face doubled to 2) and produces double the culture. Like most of the happiness wonders, the same general strategic principle applies…they’re useful to have but you can certainly survive without them. The Sistine Chapel is almost without doubt the most useful to have, coming so early, lasting the whole game and doubling the happiness of Cathedrals, which you nearly always want to get anyway. They’re even more useful for Religious Civs, possibly starting a Golden Age at a pretty good period of the game to have one, and for whom Cathedrals have a significantly decreased cost.
If you can get the Sistine Chapel, you can actually avoid building Colosseums altogether if you want, and save yourself 2 Gold Maintenance in every city, a doubled up Cathedral produces 1 extra happy face that a normal Cathedral and Colosseum combined. The Sistine Chapel is a really sensible choice for Democratically-inclined players who are making a move for a cultural, diplomatic or research victory, as the extra happy faces work wonders in keeping your populace happy without military units, and for these kinds of players, perhaps you should focus on getting the Sistine Chapel rather than Sun Tzu’s Art of War or Leonardo’s Workshop. For militaristic players the other two wonders tend to attract most of your attention, and with good reason, the Sistine Chapel is not nearly as essential to military campaigning as they are.
JS BACH’S CATHEDRAL
Cost: 600
Technology Required: Music Theory
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Religious
Effect: 2 Happy faces in home city, 2 happy faces in all cities on the continent. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 6
Analysis: I have known newbies often lump JS Bach’s Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel together in their general thinking of the wonders, and these two do appear so close to each other as to require little dissimilar thinking, but there are some notable differences to be aware of. Firstly, the Sistine Chapel mandates the construction of Cathedrals in cities to gain a bonus while JS Bach’s Cathedral does not, JS Bach’s Cathedral only affects continental cities while the Sistine Chapel affects cities all over the world, and JS Bach’s Cathedral comes from a tech not required for era-advancement, while the Sistine Chapel comes from one which is. These differences tend to make the two wonders valuable to different extents in different circumstances, I leave the decision to you. But generally, on large continents the Sistine Chapel is much better, and is also preferable for religious Civs who are generally always going to build Cathedrals in all their cities anyway. I would say that JS Bach’s Cathedral is better for militaristic players who don’t want to waste time building the Sistine Chapel when focussed on STAW and Leonardo’s Workshop, and are less likely to build Cathedrals were it not for the fact that JS Bach comes from Music Theory, which a militaristic player is never going to want to research, still, if you can get Music Theory in a good deal then it’s a good bonus for a militaristic player.
Generally I find the Sistine Chapel more useful, simple as its easier to get and does provide a total greater happiness bonus, but for peaceful players, who are perhaps inclined to leave the bottom half of the middle ages tech tree to the computers and make a peaceful approach to Music Theory, I can understand JS Bach being their choice. In both cases the wonder’s are nice to have, and both last the whole game, without being essential. Both occur along a natural path to Democracy so generally both are the choice of peaceful players, JS Bach’s Cathedral can often simply be a ‘second attempt’.
COPERNICUS’ OBSERVATORY
Cost: 400
Technology Required: Invention
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Expansionist
Effect: Double Science Output of the city where built. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: The first of the double-science wonders which all follow the same basic strategy, there’s not much to say for Copernicus’ Observatory. I always find the +100% Science Wonders never really worth the effort, I mean I’d much rather gain my extra science by building a few more universities or conquering some enemy cities, there are better wonders out there. That said, the three of them (Copernicus’ Observatory, Newton’s University and the SETI Programme) appear far enough apart for a committed player to stand a fair chance of getting all three in the same city, and this can be a massive science bonus. More than most, these three wonders depend on your playing style and preferred victory style. To win the Space Race victory they can be very helpful in getting a lead on the AI players that is hard to catch up on, but for any other style of play you generally have better priorities, and that is the approach I’d advise when deciding whether to build them or not.
MAGELLAN’S VOYAGE
Cost: 400
Technology Required: Navigation
Other Requirements: Coastal City
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Expansionist, Commercial, Seafaring
Effect: +1 to all Naval Movement.
Culture: 3
Analysis: As I mentioned in the entry for the Great Lighthouse, Magellan’s Voyage is not actually the less useful of the two naval speed wonders, but it is the more specialised. By this stage in the game, naval expansion is less important and as such, whether to build this wonder or not is a decision that rests on how dependent you intend to be on naval power. There are obvious extremes, on an Archipelago map with a lot of water this wonder will be a great asset, while on a Pangaea it won’t be. The rule is simple, if you plan to use a lot of naval power, particularly a lot of transports for attacks on other continents etc. then you should consider this, otherwise, don’t bother, the bonus is not big enough to make it even half worthwhile. Also, because this is occasionally overlooked, remember that there is almost no point in building Magellan’s Voyage unless you intend to be militaristic, colonisation is no longer a real use for navies, now they’re used for attacking other empires, so if you’re a peaceful democratic nation, don’t bother.
NEWTON’S UNIVERSITY
Cost: 400
Technology Required: Theory of Gravity
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Scientific
Effect: Double Science Output of the city where built. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 6
Analysis: The second of the three +100% research wonders, and the same principles apply to it as Copernicus’ Observatory. If you have a choice between them, then on stats Newton’s University comes ahead by a nose, with +2 Culture and the Scientific flag, more useful for Scientific Civs, but the difference is negligible. Again, if your going for science victory, try and get both, if not then you can let either or both go past you.
SMITH’S TRADING COMPANY
Cost: 600
Technology Required: Economics
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Commercial, Seafaring
Effect: All trade improvements (marketplace, bank etc.) cost 0 maintenance.
Culture: 3
Analysis: Universally useful, pretty much regardless of strategy, Smith’s Trading Company is a healthy bonus to your income for any civilisation, but large empire should consider it especially handy, saving you half a dozen gold per city eventually. This wonder is never so necessary as to get into a fuss over, but you will generally want to get Economics anyway, for the improvement on Wealth efficiency, and Smith’s Trading Company can be a good thing to have. Small nations should definitely let it pass, its not worth the effort and if your so small you probably have better priorities, but any nation not tempted by Newton’s University or Magellan’s Voyage could select this as a decent late middle age wonder to go for, its certainly more useful to all than either of those two. But you need never commiserate over failing to get it, besides, with its cost you may be able to channel the work into Universal Suffrage by the time you research Industrialisation.
SHAKESPEARE’S THEATRE
Cost: 450
Technology Required: Free Artistry
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: None
Effect: 8 Happy Citizens in the City where its built. Counts as a hospital in the city where its built (C3C only I believe). Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 8
Analysis: The most remote wonder in the game with probably the least reason to built it, Shakespeare’s Theatre is not actually a bad choice to build. Its simply that it requires so much effort to get there, for bonuses which apply to only one city, that rarely, if ever do I find myself considering it. 8 Happy citizens is the biggest happiness bonus in the game, but if you build it anywhere, it’ll be your capital, which is not going to benefit from the We Love the King day that Shakespeare’s Theatre will probably bring into being. And the ability to allow growth to Metropolis that was added in C3C I think is really irrelevant when Sanitation is just two or three techs away.
There is one situation where Shakespeare’s Theatre is really worth going for –when your driving for a cultural victory, especially a one city cultural victory. 8 culture is the highest value of any structure in the game, and building it prevents your enemies getting that valuable culture, and a cultural victory is almost certainly going to be peaceful, so researching the top half of the middle ages tech tree looks a lot more appealing. Otherwise though, this wonder is really never worth the investment.
UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
Cost: 800
Technology Required: Industrialisation
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Agricultural
Effect: Reduces War Weariness in all cities.
Culture: 4
Analysis: As you’d expect, more than any other wonder the value of Universal Suffrage depends on your style of play. Any non-war weariness government should never consider it, unless they have a real dire need for the culture and production to throw into the air or intend to change government shortish, for war-weariness governments it depends on your approach to war. For all Democracies and Republics, Universal Suffrage can be useful in staving off the war-weariness in any conflict you find yourself drawn into and unable to get out of, but for 800 shields its questionable whether its worth building it for just that purpose. Really, if you’re a democracy/republic and you intend to engage in some warfare for expansion purposes, then you want this wonder. You really want it. Democracies more than republics, but for republics it can almost remove the war weariness question entirely except for really long wars which is very handy. If you don’t plan wars, then let it pass you by, unless you have nothing better to do, fear invasion by a foreign power, or are dying from unhappy citizens asking for piece to the extent where half your population are citizens (though in this lat case, your democracy’s probably going to collapse soon anyway 😉 ).
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Cost: 600
Technology Required: Scientific Method
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Scientific
Effect: Gain 2 free technologies.
Culture: 3
Analysis: An interesting wonder, whose value will often differ depending who you talk to. There are many who take the same line of argument as for the identical Universal Translator wonder in SMAC, that two free techs simply isn’t worth the investment at this stage in the game, when there are other much more important wonders about like Universal Suffrage or the Hoover Dam, and when you may have better priorities to deal with. Personally however, I value Theory of Evolution for three main reasons. 1: It is cheap, relative to this stage in the game and bearing in mind all that boosted production you probably have now from factories and coal plants. 2: Its free techs, and these are always useful, and its not nearly so late in the game as the Universal Translator appeared in SMAC. You can establish a Tech Lead, increase one, or catch up from behind with the Theory of Evolution and it can significantly change your position of power relative to your neighbours. 3: The free techs you can gain can get you Replaceable Parts or take you towards Motorised Transportation, militarily two very highly values techs, which can translate into you getting Tanks or Infantry a good 15 turns or so before anyone else…which can come in VERY handy.
Alternatively (and this is, I profess, my favourite use of Theory of Evolution) you can get this wonder (rushing it to completion would be a joy to behold) then pick up Atomic Theory and Electronics and then immediately start work on the Hoover Dam, which is much more important in my opinion, without competition from the AI, 2 techs behind you, then pick up that wonder as well, while trading your two bonus techs for the path to Mass Production and Motorised Transportation and find yourself in a great production position, with +50% pollution free production bonus in every city with a factory, churning out tanks. So I always make a bash at Theory of Evolution, it seems pretty worthwhile to me, besides, at this stage in the game, you can probably afford losing one city for a while to produce it. There is one rule I would advise whenever you do build it: If you’re pretty sure you can get it then set Science output to 0% while building it (if your not set at 0% anyway) and research Atomic Theory (it’s the most expensive tech of that period) then when you get the two free techs, Atomic Theory will be one of them, it’s the most worthwhile for this, as it is so expensive and doesn’t allow anything new to be done, it’s a bit of a waste to research if you can avoid it.
HOOVER DAM
Cost: 800
Technology Required: Electronics
Other Requirements: City must have a river in it’s radius.
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Industrious, Agricultural
Effect: Gain a Hydro Plant in every city on the same continent. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 2
Analysis: Recognised by most as pretty damn (no pun intended…well…not much) useful, the Hoover Dam is built for one simply purpose – to boost production in all cities. Like all continent related bonus giving wonders, it’s value is diminished on a small continent or Archipelago map, but otherwise its generally an exceptionally good wonder to have no matter what the situation. Ideally, you eventually want to produce nuclear plants in those cities that can build them, but until then, hydro plants in every city are very welcome. The cost of the Hoover Dam is hefty, so it’s a premium choice for scientific leader rushing if you can, but either way it’s a great buy. Also, because it’s a bit selective on which cities can build it, you face a little less competition from the AI, which can be amplified by the Theory of Evolution trick outlined above. There is little else to say, if your going to have one wonder in the whole game, Hoover Dam is definitely a good choice, no matter what your game style.
UNITED NATIONS
Cost: 1000
Technology Required: Fission
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Commercial
Effect: Allows Diplomatic Victory, builder chooses when/if to hold Secretary General Elections. Tourist Attraction.
Culture: 4
Analysis: There is really very little to say about the United Nations, about as much as is actually said IN the United Nations. You need it to get the Diplomatic Victory. If you’re intending to, then get it – the decision on whether to hold elections or not really ought to be your own. If you’re not intending to vote your way to victory…don’t build it, unless your the most powerful and everyone’s against you and you need to prevent the AI players holding elections.
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Cost: 800
Technology Required: Fission
Other Requirements: Uranium
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Militaristic, Industrious
Effect: Allows construction of Nuclear Weapons by ALL nations.
Culture: 2
Analysis: Unless you are about 6 techs ahead of all other players, so far ahead to make all of them declaring war on you together irrelevant, and just feel a hankering need to nuke your enemies to oblivion and bring a nuclear winter across the planet, you never really need to build the Manhattan Project, this thing rivals Shakespeare’s Theatre for the ‘least reason to build’ award. It gives no advantage to the Civ that builds it except the culture, and you can sure bet that the AI will build it eventually anyway, so don’t bother. Go for the United Nations, or SETI or…if you feel especially daring…build some conventional weapons and go bulldoze your enemies cities the direct way, see this way you get to actually keep the cities, and they’re not surrounded by pollution, and global warming isn’t threatening to turn the whole map into desert. Interesting huh?
SETI PROGRAMME
Cost: 1000
Technology Required: Computers
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Expansionist
Effect: Double Science Output of the city where built.
Culture: 3
Analysis: The last and, albeit marginally, worst of the +100% Science trio, the SETI Programme follows the same rules as the other two, if your going for science out and out, then get it. Otherwise, it’s not really worth the effort. That said, by this time there are so few OTHER premium wonders around, it’s often worth going for the SETI programme out of sheer power, cities to spare, or boredom, depending on how well you’ve played the game so far. The lack of a Tourist Attraction Flag and Culture 3, as well as the relatively few technologies remaining in the game are the only shortcomings over Newton’s University and Copernicus’ Observatory.
THE INTERNET
Cost: 1000
Technology Required: Miniaturisation
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: All
Effect: Gain Research Lab in every city on the continent.
Culture: 4
Analysis: For C3C owners, the Internet offers a significantly better Modern Age Science Wonder than SETI, +50% Science in EVERY city is a lot better than +100% research in ONE city thank you very much. On top of this, all those Research labs generate a hefty culture bonus to your cities, which can be a great help in speeding up the run to a cultural victory, or just generally to defend against culture flips from your enemies. As such, the Internet is a more worthwhile buy regardless of playing style, though by this time there are so few techs left you may not need it either way. If by some chance you haven’t got a Golden Age next, the Internet can grant a Golden Age for EVERY type of civilisation, so you can enjoy that if you feel the need for kicks. Overall, the Internet is generally worth the investment to get the final string of techs, especially if your going for the space race where every speed bonus counts, and all those Research Labs without maintenance is handy, but you may find that more pressing concerns like an army of Mechanised Infantry and Modern Armour is demanding more of your attention in which case you really don’t need to worry about missing the Internet out. I generally find myself more preoccupied by having the same argument in my head whenever I can build the Internet about how it’s effects ought to span more than one continent seeing how we have the ‘World Wide’ Web, but then I’m strange like that.
CURE FOR CANCER
Cost: 1000
Technology Required: Genetics
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Scientific, Agricultural
Effect: Gain 1 happy citizen in every city, 1 happy citizen in city where built.
Culture: 3
Analysis: Speaks for itself really. Its been a while since you’ve been able to build a happiness wonder, and if the game is still under serious consideration at this stage, Cure for Cancer can be a serious help though the Internet is perhaps more worthwhile of your time. The extra happy face is as always useful for democratic government to offset war weariness, especially as this late stage of the game may see more conflict that any other but often Genetics isn’t really worth researching for just Cure for Cancer and Longevity, especially if your trying to win by Space Race victory.
LONGEVITY
Cost: 1000
Technology Required: Genetics
Other Requirements: None
Rendered Obsolete By: None
Traits: Scientific
Effect: Cities gain +2 Population whenever they grow in size, rather than +1.
Culture: 3
Analysis: A bizarre final wonder of the game Longevity is another contender for the ‘least reason to build’ wonder. By this advanced stage in the game, the double growth rate is totally negligible, hell, most of your cities may well have reached maximum size already. It costs the same as the Internet, SETI and Cure for Cancer, and all these wonders offer a lot more, so I can conceivably see of no reason for getting Longevity unless your trying to win the game by Wonder or Histographic Victory. I’ve seen various Mods move Longevity to an earlier time period, in my own I went as far as to make it a small wonder and make it available with Sanitation to reflect greater growth in the late 19th Century, regardless, where it currently is in Civ3, it is certainly a very unwarranted build, the extra growth is frankly more likely so simply trap all your cities in an irritating cycle of growth/starvation/growth/starvation than to provide any real benefit to your empire. The only use for Longevity that I do accept is that it can be useful in offsetting the population damage of rushing projects in communist/fascist style governments, or in regenerating population damage in wars, as some responses to this article have mentioned. But this is, as I see it, hardly worth Longevity’s cost. Leave it alone. Build the Space Race Parts. Expand your military. Get SDI defence. Ignore Longevity and leave it to the AI.
So that’s my breakdown analyses of all the wonders in the game. As I said I would really value your comments or corrections on any part of this article, and hope its some use to people. Feel free to message me personally over Civfanatics message system too. Happy empire building :).
P.S. Having now edited this article to reflect some of the points raised by several responses, can I thank all the site members who contributed their comments and strategies to this article. Its a great help, and I have no wish to gain credit for the good advice of others. Thanks to all.