Civilization II Hints

Wonders of the World

• I won't go into the specifics of each of the wonders here because the Civ Junkies have an on-line Wonders of the World FAQ which will more than answer any questions you might have. Check it out.  I will stress the importance of two of the wonders though: Leonardo's Workshop and Michelangelo's Chapel.  These two wonders should be built every game at every difficulty level (especially the higher ones).  Michelangelo's Chapel is a serious tool in preventing unhappiness with its gift of a free cathedral in every city.  On Deity level this wonder is a God-send, making your happiness problems much more manageable for the rest of the game. Leonardo's Workshop gives you free upgrades for all of your obsolete units.  Just think of the time and shields you save by not having to constantly upgrade your defences when better units become available. And, you can even get all your settlers upgraded to engineers as soon as you get explosives.  You can't go wrong with this wonder; just let the computer get it and see what hap
  pens.
  
  Be sure to take advantage of using caravans to help build wonders.  This is a way that you can quickly build a wonder that a rival is also working on. It is also helpful in spreading out your wonders because it enables you to construct wonders in cities with lower productions in a reasonable amount of time.  A little trick to try when your are about to discover a technology which will allow you to build a wonder which you want to have very quickly is to stockpile caravans outside of the city where you intend to build it and then, when it becomes available, simply move them in and you could build the wonder in one turn!
  
  Be careful building wonders which expire.  The reason for this is that you may find yourself running a very efficient civilization with every thing nicely in balance, and then suddenly you have chaos.  What I'm saying here is what if your trade is barely giving you enough taxes to make ends meet and then the Colossus expires? You may find it very difficult to balance things again after losing so much trade that you were dependant upon.  Or even worse, if you built the Great Wall and then someone discovers metallurgy.  Suddenly your cities are virtually defenceless relative to what they once were.  If you do build wonders which expire, be sure to prepare your civilization for their expiration before it comes around. There is a complete list of the wonders which expire in the previous section on advances.
  
  Global Improvement Wonders can be great things, but beware.  They can also be very detrimental to your society.  Global Improvement Wonders are spectacular in that they give you an improvement in every current city and everyone ever to come under your control (unless they expire) and you don't have to spend the time and resources to build them or pay a single cent to keep them up.  If you do build one of these wonders, be sure to sell off all of the improvements of the type they provide because there is simply no reason to keep paying upkeep on something you get for free.
  
  Guard your Wonders of the World (especially Global Improvement ones) very well and try to spread them out over a number of cities rather than concentrating them in your highest production city.  The reason for this is simple: what happens if you lose the city to your rivals? A city with four or five wonders is a very inviting target for an opponent and all very deadly one for you to lose.  What happens if you lose Michelangelo's Chapel?  You suddenly lose your cathedral in every city throughout your entire empire.  CIVIL DISORDER! That would be a blow not easy to recover from. So don't ever let it happen.  Guard your valuable wonders well. Very well.
  

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