Honest Wonder Ratings

[FroggyKilla]

I'm going to do some analysis of the Wonders this game has to offer. They're all there to give you an edge in either offense, defense, or economy. I will take into account all Library Researches except Heritage and Monuments, which affect Wonders themselves directly. The star system I put in there is not a measure of which Wonder is the best, but a measure of how well a job this Wonder will do in its niche. If a Wonder has less than 4.5 stars, I believe that this Wonder is a bit underpowered for what it does, and buffs are in order. Otherwise, the Wonder is fine and doesn't really need any changes.

Bronze Age:
• Stonehenge: This Wonder gives +20% Bonus Gold per Caravan and +100% Road Gold
◦ This Wonder intends to increase your Gold production. I would be inclined to say that this is the most popular Wonder, and for good reason. Gold is the most important resource this game has for you to manage. You need for upgrading your base, especially the Walls. And this Wonder, needless to say, does that job very well. It gets even better when you get the extra Caravans from completing Commerce at the Library. An interesting tidbit is the Bonus Gold. This cannot be raided by the enemy. Since this is not a defensive Wonder, you can place it outside the base with no penalty. Remember to connect it to your Road network; otherwise, you won't get the +100% Road Gold bonus.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Pyramids: +20% Food Production to nearby Farms.
◦ This Wonder intends to increase Food production. Now my problem with this Wonder is the fact that you have to place the Farms around the Wonder. The increased Food production comes at the cost of having a possibly poor base layout. And it gets even harder to do so after researching Crop Rotation. How should I fix this? Either remove the radius altogether and adjust the bonus to all Farms, or increase the radius by a lot. This way you're not getting heavily punished for proper use of this Wonder. Other than that, I think Pyramids is fine. Since this is not a defensive Wonder, you can place it outside the base with no penalty.
◦ Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
• Acropolis: +15% Defender Health, -20% Spawn delay for nearby Garrisons, Stables, Bunkers, and the Colosseum.
◦ This Wonder intends to better your defenses. Now with all the other Wonders increasing production of either Food or Gold or both, why would you pick a Wonder that doesn't do that? Because this Wonder is ideal for World Wars and the end game (when you've maxed out everything) when Resources don't really matter as much as they did when trying to upgrade your base, this Wonder will give you needed early game defensive power. It grants a powerful health boost for defending troops. To get the spawn delay reduction, you'll have to place this around your buildings. This Wonder combos well with Colosseum, so I would recommend getting these two together. Overall, this Wonder does a fine job for helping out on defenses.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Hanging Gardens: +20% Gather Amount, -50% Harvest Time, -20% Regeneration Time
◦ This Wonder improves the yield of Fruit Trees and Gold Mines, which in turn gives a little bit of Food and Gold . It also can improve the yields on Oil Seeps and Gold Deposits. My honest opinion of this Wonder isn't bad. You will get extra Fruit Trees and Gold Mines from the Library (Pottery and Exploration, respectfully), and clearing Forests during the early game. The increasing costs to plant these down are a pain, though (550k Gold for a Fruit Tree?). The 50% Harvest Time reduction is really useless. I can wait 20s to harvest these, no problem. Though this only affects nearby Fruit Trees and Gold Mines, they're quite small, so it shouldn't really be a problem. The most important part of maximizing the effectiveness of this Wonder is citizen management. At least dedicate 2 citizens to harvesting them whenever they become available. If you find yourself unable to do that, do not pick this Wonder. How would I improve this Wonder? I'd replace the 50% Harvest Time with 2 free Fruit Trees. It's also an economic Wonder, so you can place it outside.
◦ Rating: 4/5 Stars

Classical Age
• Notre Dame: 5k Gold once a Day (+5k per Age), and 10% Cost Reduction for Blacksmith Techs and Library Researches; Cannot be attacked.
◦ I don't know where to start. You will be saving so much in resources when you get this Wonder. It's that good. You cannot possibly go wrong with this Wonder. It also cannot be attacked, so place it outside. Simple as that. Keep in mind you won't be getting any helpful offensive or defensive bonuses with this Wonder, so when you're done researching stuff from the Armory and the Library, switch to another Wonder. The extra Gold per day is minuscule, but it's used to top off construction Gold requirements.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Colosseum: Strength of the Gladiator tactic once a Day, Spawns 8 Heavy Infantry defenders per wave (like a Super Garrison).
◦ This Wonder is insanely strong. It can function as both an offensive and defensive Wonder. It is a priority target for attacks, as you will get overwhelmed if you do not deal with this, pronto. This Wonder combos well with Acropolis, for even speedier troop deployment. The Strength of the Gladiator tactic gives +50% troop attack speed and +200% damage for 12 seconds. I believe this tactic can be affected by researching Battle Tactics at the Library (correct me if I am wrong). This tactic is stupid strong. Of course, since attackers will target this first, place it behind walls.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Terra Cotta Army: Terra Cotta Army tactic once a Day, +20% HP to nearby Barracks and the Castle.
◦ This Wonder isn't so great. You get 10 extra Heavy Infantry and 10 extra Ranged Infantry to use once a day. While it may pale in comparison to Colosseum's Strength of the Gladiator tactic, the Terra Cotta Army will produce unique units. I do not recommend this for Nations with Heavy Cavalry uniques, because Terra Cotta Army does not produce Heavy Cavalry/Tanks. What's even worse that if you want to take advantage of the HP buff, you would have the place this near the Castle, which there is only one of, or nearby the Barracks. I would just remove the health bonus and allow it to have 10 extra troop spaces. This will truly allow it to stand out as an offensive Wonder.
◦ Rating: 2/5 Stars.
• Forbidden City: +10k Food and Gold Stored, acts as an extra Town/City Center, and 5k Food once a Day (+5k per Age).
◦ This Wonder can certainly prove to be annoying for attacks. You have to destroy both this Wonder and the Town/City Center to get the Town Center star. While it may not spawn City defenders like China's Town/City Center or shoot like Japan's Town/City Center (if you were playing as China or Japan respectively), it's potential for star denial in World Wars makes it a decent choice. Like any priority targets, you must place this inside walls. Also, this Wonder will eventually pay for itself, since Wonders cost Food. It also can store a bit of Food and Gold, but it's moot.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars

Gunpowder Age
• Angkor Wat: Heals Defenders for 424 HP every 2sec (increases with age?); Gain 3 Trade Goods once a day (increases with age?)
◦ We've got another defensive Wonder here. The heal is not a percentage, so it's quite good if the troop does not get bursted down; however, they would have to be nearby to take advantage of this Wonder. One can say that Taj Mahal outdoes Angkor Wat in the Trade Good department, since you can save up to 10+ Trade Goods a day getting a Mercenary, but you can use these trade goods for blessings, along with getting mercenaries. You only get a choice of three, so choose wisely. I'd really up the Trade Goods per day to 4 baseline simply because key mercenaries/blessings during the Gunpowder Age cost 4 of a Trade Good (say Ronin or Storage Blessing). Overall, this Wonder is a fine choice. I mainly recommend this Wonder for World Wars. This Wonder is a priority target, so you must keep it behind walls to get the maximum effectiveness of the heal.
◦ Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
• Taj Mahal: +2% More Loot, Free Mercenary once a day.
◦ This Wonder is a decent offensive Wonder. Though the raid bonus is quite minuscule, it's great when paired up with a Loot Blessing. Also, with the increasing costs of Mercenaries, getting one for free every day is quintessential for attacks and World War. This Wonder doesn't do anything for defense, so put it outside. Very good Wonder for active players who do multiplayer raids often.
◦ Rating: 3/5 Stars
• Versailles: +10% Troop HP, -40% move speed to nearby attackers.
◦ This Wonder is also a hybrid attack/defense like Colosseum; however, Versailles is mainly offensive. It gives a solid 10% extra HP to all ground troops. This even includes defensive troops, so this would be another great defensive Wonder that can pair with Acropolis. I recommend this Wonder for French and Greek players, since Heavy Cavalry/Tanks will have massive amounts of HP. This Wonder acts like a giant Caltrops, so if you were to place it inside walls, it can cause massive annoyance for your adversary as enemy troops get picked off by your defenses. It's slow bonus still lingers after destroying this building, too.
◦ Rating:5/5 Stars
• Temple of Tikal: +3% Attack Refund, +2 Trade Good Capacity
◦ Where do I start construction.... not here, or anywhere. This Wonder is absolutely terrible. It gives a moot +2 Trade Good Capacity. If you're picking this Wonder, you're only doing it for the +3% return on raids. How would I make this Wonder better? How about a Free Blessing once a Day (it's a Temple for Christ's sake!)? Or how about preventing trade goods from being stolen? It would give a degree of specialization much like Taj Mahal. Otherwise, Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat will outdo this Wonder. Place it outside, it's pretty much only good for a meat shield.
◦ Rating: 1/5 Stars

Industrial Age
• Kremlin: Spawns 2 defenders for Destroyed Farms; Increases HP of nearby Walls by 20%
◦ We have yet another effective defensive Wonder for our collection. This Wonder's effectiveness is increased by Crop Rotation (more Farms), and Ramparts (for Wall HP bonus). Since Walls have one of the largest health pools out of all the defensive buildings, giving it 1/5 of its HP will prove Walls to be nigh impenetrable. This Wonder is a must if you prefer a defensive playstyle for a World Wars.
◦ Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
• Statue of Liberty: +20% Air Unit Attack, +250 Oil per Day (increases per Age?)
◦ Like using Airplanes? Then this Wonder is for you! You'll just have to deal with their atrocious AI! It doesn't get any fun tactic like Brandenburg Gate, but if you master use of air units, then I recommend this Wonder. This Wonder also grants bonus Oil for topping off researches and upgrades. Place it outside; it will not do much for defense. I would combine this Wonder with the Pentagon for air superiority. Maybe it should give some HP to the aircraft as well.
◦ Rating: 4/5 Stars.
• Eiffel Tower: +200k Food and Gold Storage in the Vault, Free 12-h Peace Shield once a Week
◦ Now this Wonder literally outclasses Temple of Tikal. I mean you can combo this Wonder with Savings from the Library, and you can save a much larger portion of resources than what Temple of Tikal could save. It also gives a 12-hour peace shield every week, so take advantage of all of that, and you can find yourself effectively managing your Resources. Now my only complaint is that it doesn't affect Oil Storage in the Vault. I recommend this Wonder for casual players who aren't on this game all the time. Place it outside, since it doesn't help on defense much.
◦ Rating: 4/5 Stars
• Brandenburg Gate: +20% Factory Troop Damage; Blitzkrieg tactic once a Day
◦ An excellent offensive choice. Like using Factory Troops? Then this Wonder is for you! Even better is this God-tier Blitzkrieg tactic. A massive 10 radius tactic that can prevent defender-spawning buildings from working for a great 14s, so in a sense, it can counteract the Acropolis. This tactic can also be affected by Battle Tactics (correct me if I am wrong). It is a must for warmongering players. Place this Wonder outside, since it doesn't affect anything for defenses.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars

Atomic Age
• Atomium: 10% Less University research Time, can reset the timer on all other Wonder's abilities once a week.
◦ Though the University research time bonus will be useless when you complete the University researches, this Wonder can refill Wonder-exclusive effects (like Angkor Wat's trade goods, or Brandenburg Gate's Blitzkrieg tactic). If you're getting Atomium, you're only getting it for the weekly reset. Can be useful for scoring important wins in World War. How would I buff this? I'd give it 10% less University Research Cost as well. I mean Montezuma is coming soon as it seems. Place this Wonder outside.
◦ Rating: 3/5 Stars
• United Nations: Gain 3 National Trade Goods once a Day. Deploys a peacekeeping force when destroyed.
◦ I find getting National Trade Goods a great pain to get, since we're going to likely get 1 or 2 stars on every base at this point in the game. Very useful, indeed. Also, enemies that destroy this will get a nasty surprise. One of each of the unique Units will prove devastating. For defense, you can choose this or the Pentagon. This Wonder is perfect. Place this Wonder anywhere.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Sydney Opera House: +1 Citizen, Expeditions return 20% faster.
◦ A Wonder that affects Expeditions.. not bad. Extra citizen will prove useful for running these Expeditions. Also, you could use the extra citizen for upgrading Walls. Expeditions will prove useful for fetching important Troop Tactics, and exclusive Blessings. Place this Wonder outside.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Pentagon: -20% Aircraft Training Time, Extra General inside the Pentagon
◦ An extra General for defense is very solid. Also, -20% less Aircraft training time is great as they take forever to train. You can place this anywhere.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars

 

[SebQuattro]

I'm sorry, but some of your ratings are a Joke. Take the first one for example:

Bronze Age:
• Stonehenge: This Wonder gives +20% Bonus Gold per Caravan and +100% Road Gold
◦ This Wonder intends to increase your Gold production. I would be inclined to say that this is the most popular Wonder, and for good reason. Gold is the most important resource this game has for you to manage. You need for upgrading your base, especially the Walls. And this Wonder, needless to say, does that job very well. It gets even better when you get the extra Caravans from completing Commerce at the Library. An interesting tidbit is the Bonus Gold. This cannot be raided by the enemy. Since this is not a defensive Wonder, you can place it outside the base with no penalty. Remember to connect it to your Road network; otherwise, you won't get the +100% Road Gold bonus.
◦ Rating: 5/5 Stars

1, it gives a Nexon 100% bonus, that means it doesn't actually give you a 100% bonus. 2, Gold isn't the most important resource in the game. 3, Walls can also be upgraded with food. 4, The bonus gold CAN be raided by the enemy.

Acropolis is the only good Bronze Age wonder, the rest are useless.

Taj Mahal is also useless, you get a 15% loot bonus for using the British Nation and 27% for the Loot Blessing. In comparison, a 2% loot bonus is nothing especially compared to the benefits of Versailles/ Angkor Wat.

Colosseum is NOT a priority target for attacks, you will NOT get overwhelmed if you do not deal with this, pronto. It is however great for enemies when there's a defeat defending troops event.

Forbidden City doesn't have to be placed inside walls. It can equally work outside walls, as it can influence where people deploy their troops. If you can predict where players will deploy their troops, you can give them a very hard time. Watch what happens if you wall in your TC in, place the FC at the edge of the map with all your traps in front of it, there's always someone who will fall for it.

Versailles inside walls can compromise base design, especially when it has such a small effective radius. IMO It's most effective outside or half in/ half out when troops are 'directed' towards it.

Kremlin may be useful in Atomic Age from where Atomic Age walls gain a huge amount of HP, but in the lower ages i've never encountered a single base with Kremlin which has given me trouble. Most players seem to have the Kremlin in the middle of their base surrounded by walls, all it ends up doing it buffing those walls.

Eiffel Tower: a free 12hr peace treaty once a week may come in use, but place your TC outside your base and you get a free Peace Treaty every day! You can also get 12hr peace treaties from a Level 4 dock, but those get stored in your inventory and you can use them whenever you like.

Statue of Liberty, air attack is already high enough, so it isn't really needed, it's HP that aircraft need. Blitzkrieg is a must from the tactic reduction, it's an easy choice.

 

[JMoney]

Notre Dame is actually does have one use on defense: units cannot walk directly over Notre Dame, they have to walk around its sides.

Also Atomium is definitely no 3.5/5. It's the best offensive and defensive atomic wonder of the four atomic wonders until you have all of the university research completed.

 

[Wynne D Fanchon]

Agree with most of these except:

Atomium. I feel like it should be a 4.5 since it's saving 10% time on all university leaders and any future ones. In addition you claim it will be useless when you finish research for all leaders which is true but something that will probably not be achieved for a long time, and maybe never for 99% of players.

Kremlin. Not quite sure it deserves a 5 mainly because you have to work your base around it and I wish the buff on the walls would stay even after destroyed (like Versailles). But it does give one of the few HP increases to walls which allows max level walls to go beyond their limit. I'd give it a 4. Not to mention the tactics nerf, it just makes B.Gate even more of a necessity for WW players.

 

[Wynne D Fanchon]

I have rallied my troops on top of Notre Dame but I think by default they have to walk around.

 

[British Coffee]

Resource bonus wonders should be something like 1/5 since resource buildings are so bad in this game. small resources they create in earlier phases in the game is irrelevant since you can pretty much earn more than enough with raiding till enlightenment ish. In higher ages, with calculations made from info given from wiki, 8 farms give approx 630k per day with wonders in GA. Thats like 2 attacks which you can pull off without any significant loss. In addition to that, you actually have to regularly upgrade all the resource buildings to make it generate whats noted above. Out of all the things you want to upgrade, resource buildings are at the back end of the list.

 

[Motaz Tarek]

for stone age hanging gardens are way more useful than stonhenge, seriously who is depending on domestic production of resources for upgrades? on the other hand nearly all players run short on trade goods for mercs and blessings so hanging gardens reduce regeneration time is actually something nice and considerable to sacrifice acroplis for (if ur not a defensive type of players)

in classical age notre dam has some defensive functions as the folks stated above

atomium is nice too i would have chosen it if i had 19 workers but no i got 16 and the extra 1 worker from opera is gonna be huge to me since i can do 4 upgrades costing 4 workers each and keep that extra worker for walls...i guess atomium deserves a 5/5 rating, that 10% is gross and is equal to getting the cap stone of sejong leader

 

[FroggyKilla]

Bleh, I guess you're right about some of these...

 

[FroggyKilla]

Atomium the best for defense? Hardly, because you'd pick UN or Pentagon. Atomium has its niche for offense, though.

 

[FroggyKilla]

I never said Atomium would be useless. The first thing I said about it is that it's University Research Time reduction would be useless upon completing all University researches... which might never be done because some people would just quit before completing them.

Kremlin is for helping out with defenses. It's fine by me if you want to pick BBG. Don't pick Kremlin if you want to attack more efficiently; it's simple as that.

 

[FroggyKilla]

Regularly upgrade? I'm pretty sure that applies to just about everything.... I wouldn't necessarily count them out just yet.

 

[FroggyKilla]

The loot you get from those inactive bases are dependent on domestic production, keep that in mind.

I don't think Atomium deserves 5/5. The Wonder ability refresh is only going to be available weekly, and I would imagine everyone is doing World Wars often.

 

[FroggyKilla]

You all have got some strong points. As a result, I have altered the ratings a bit.

 

[Wynne D Fanchon]

FroggyKilla "The first thing I said about it is that it's University Research Time reduction would be useless upon completing all University researches... which might never be done because some people would just quit before completing them"

Exactly why it makes it redundant to state because nobody will probably complete the University and should not be factored in the rating score.

I know Kremlin is for defense and B.Gate for offense, my problem is that you rate Kremlin 5 stars which implies its essentially flawless, but its not because you cant just throw it off the side of any wall and have it do work, you have to build your base around it whereas to be truly effective in comparison to other 5 star Wonders like Notre Dame, Sydney Opera and Versailles which have pros that don't have to be worked around so much.

 

[Ankara]

I appreciate your taking the time to write this all out. When considering switching wonders I can read the description in game but specifics are not covered. For example...terra cotta army description doesn't detail how many of what troops are gained. Regardless of my own opinions of what wonders carry what value, your post is only helpful, so thank you.

 

[Manifesto]

Yikes, you people are really hard on Froggy!! His opinion is just his opinion!!
I agree with a lot of what you say Froggy but like anything in life, things are subjective. Early wonders may mean more when you start off but later they lose their effectiveness.
Except the Acropolis, Stonehenge and Notre Dame - "l feel" they still have relevance all ages.

 

[FroggyKilla]

The top players have proabably completed those University researches... and look at their bases. They're picking UN or Pentagon. They must know their stuff if they're at the top (unless they got there with Elephant Archers). Atomium is rated the way I rated it is because their Wonder ability reset only comes weekly, and frankly that's gimmicky compared to the Pentagon and UN building. It's also facing Sydney Opera House as completion for an economic Wonder.

Also, you just need to place the Kremlin around a couple key segments of wall and it would get its value. I mean considering how few walls we get, some of these layouts consist of fortified corners and boxes. It's not the burdensome task that you think it is to mold a base around it.

 

[FroggyKilla]

Oh... I'm sorry. I guess I'll add the specifics, so as to help people even more to consider a Wonder.

 

[Vixen]

Thanks for the write up and even if your views are not exactly the same as the others.. I learnt a lot by reading the discussion

 

[Ankara]

It was late when I posted and I think I was unclear. I meant to say that you, Froggy, do post specifics regarding the wonders that the game itself does not provide. You did good. And I'm lazy, so it means I don't have to spend time trying to find all the specifics out myself, which is super great. So thank you.