The Agency
Gives each city in your Civilization the protection equivalent to a Spy.
Editorial:
Not a bad Wonder. It severely limits the ability of foreign Civilizations to Investigate City, Steal Technology from you or Incite Unrest.
AI Entity
Acts like a Mind Controller in every city, locking Happiness at 75. Has a 3% chance per turn of Revolting against it's controller.
Editorial:
Useless. Utterly useless as a wonder. By the time I have advanced to the point of being able to build this Wonder, I have the Sensorium and other improvements that have made my average Happiness in the 90-100 range. Every time I have built or captured this wonder, it has Revolted and taken half of my cities with it.
Chichen Itza
Eliminates all Crime in your Civilization. Obsolete at Mass Production.
Editorial:
This Wonder is ok. Crime isn't all that much of a problem if you keep your people happy and can be effectively managed with a Courthouse. It will save some Gold and Food and enhance Production by reducing the effect Crime has on them.
Originally built in a village called Chichen which is now a suburb outside of Merida, Mexico. The Chichen Itza was the most important wonder in the Mayan state.
Confucius Academy
Eliminates Unhappiness due to distance from Capitol. Obsolete at Mass Production.
Editorial:
The further away a city is from your capitol, the more this distance contributes to Unhappiness. If your Civilization is spread out, the cities on the fringes will be more likely to Riot or Revolt because the citizens feel ignored and out of the decision-making processes. Building the Confucius Academy eliminates this Unhappiness.
Contraception
+5 Happiness for all cities. Obsolete at Alien Archaeology.
Editorial:
Very useful. This wonder, coupled with the correct building of City Improvements, massively improves Happiness throughout your Civilization. However, if you haven't been building happiness improvements and don't have the Sensorium, researching Alien Archaeology can cause major unhappiness problems within your empire.
Dinosaur Park
Increases the value of Trade Goods in host city by 300%. Obsolete at Cloaking.
Editorial:
A good one to build in a City with more than 1 Trade Good. Excellent for generating gold and ideal for an underwater city with 3 squid or 3 whale trade goods. However, the limited time span that this is available for makes it not that great.
East India Company
+1 ship movement, +20 gold per foreign trade route crossing water, all ships can cross Deep Water. Obsolete at Mass Production.
Editorial:
Essential for those aspiring to naval dominance. The extra ship movement and capabilities are a strategic and tactical advantage and the extra gold is always useful.
The Eden Project
Destroys the three most polluting cities in the world (excluding yours). Allows Ecotopian societies to build the Eco Ranger unit.
Editorial:
A Crime Against Humanity dressed up in vapid eco-prose. By the time this can be built in the game you can control pollution tightly with no need to commit mass murder. Don't waste your time unless you plan on using Ecotopia and Eco-rangers yourself to quickly take out a large industrialized empire.
Edison's Lab
On average grants 10 free advances per Age.
Editorial:
Extremely useful but not critical. The only drawback is advancing too fast. If you miss this one, try to build the Internet.
Egalitarian Act
Makes all of your Cities celebrate for 5 turns. Revolting foreign Cities join your Civilization.
Editorial:
Somewhat annoying with the Celebrating but having half of your nearest rivals' Cities come over to your control is good most of the time, unless you've hit city capacity limits.
Emancipation Act
Frees all Slaves in the world. All slaves in your cities become citizens. Cities with Slaves suffer severe riots as a result.
Editorial:
Extremely useful if you have been raided for Slaves. Can wreck a Slaver society's economy. However, if you are a major slaving nation yourself, it is recommended that you leave off building this wonder until someone else starts to build it.
ESP Center
Establishes a permanent Embassy with all other Civilizations, ends all current wars and all other Civilizations improve their Attitude towards the host.
Editorial:
Fairly useless, used mainly for the embassies.
Forbidden City
Closes all of your Embassys and prevents foreign powers from establishing Embassies.
Editorial:
Useless.
Gaia Controller
Globally eliminates all Pollution in the game and prevents environmental disasters; Global Warming, deterioration of the ozone layer. +30% Food production for host empire.
Editorial:
Absolutely essential that this is built though not necessarily by you. There are two major benefits of having this wonder built;
- ). No more pollution. Itself an excellent thing.
- ). Your citizens become instantly happier, especially in major cities.
Since this eliminates all pollution in the game, there is no real need to build improvements like the Recycling Plant or Eco Transit any more, they are utterly redundant. However the game is not coded to recognise that improvements, unlike units, are obsolete so you might as well build them anyway.
Galileo's Telescope
Increases host empires Science output by 200%.
Editorial:
A combination of this, London Exchange, and the Edison Lab will make you the leader in Science and technology.
Genome Project
+10% Production for all cities
Editorial:
Massively helpful and strongly recommended - but keep an eye on pollution values across your cities after building it - the extra 10% production means an extra 10% pollution too.
Global E-Bank
Provides Host nation with 20 Gold per Trade route between other nations.
Editorial:
Provides a massive Gold boost-as long as Piracy isn't a major part of your war strategy.
GlobeSat
Provides radar coverage of the entire world. Obsolete at Cloaking.
Editorial:
Useful but not essential - allows you to keep track of your enemies without building radar stations everywhere.
Gutenberg Bible
Increases Science output by 10%. Prevents Conversion attacks. Obsolete at Mass Production.
Editorial:
OK for science, especially when combined with other wonders but more useful in countering Conversion attacks by religious enemies.
Hagia Sophia
Doubles the effects of Temples and Cathedrals, more gold from converted cities. Obsolete at Mass Production.
Editorial:
Good for countering unhappy citizens if you have already built Temples and Cathedrals. Otherwise it takes too long to build for the result.
Hollywood
+5 gold for every enemy city that has built a television.
Editorial:
Not worth it.
Immunity Chip
+5 happiness in all cities. Provides protection against infector attacks.
Editorial:
Useful for the happiness boost. If you have Contraception, build it before researching Alien Archaeology.
Internet
On average grants 10 free Advances per Age.
Editorial:
An excellent wonder if you are trying to catch up with a more technologically advanced civilization or to retain technological superiority.
Labyrinth
Gives free caravans. Obsolete at Age of Reason.
Editorial:
This wonder is a must-have. Having free trade-routes means you can generate a lot of gold very quickly, essential for developing a strong military and progressing along the tech-tree. However, age of reason can come much faster than you would like - you should be building caravans before you get close to age of reason so you can cope better when all your "free" caravans disappear.
London Exchange
Eliminates maintenance costs for City Improvements. Obsolete at Robotics.
Editorial:
The best wonder in the game by far. Do NOT miss this wonder - somewhat counterintuitively this wonder ends up being far more important for your science rate than almost any other wonder. Coupled with Galileo's telescope and decent amounts of trade routes it can slingshot your empire way above all others, and can allow you to postpone building marketplaces and banks and instead build production improvements first.
Nanite Defuser
Eliminates all nukes in the world.
Editorial:
Build if you think it's necessary, but bear in mind that shortly around the corner are eco-rangers, an even more powerful weapon.
Nanopedia
All specialists have double the effect.
Editorial:
Massively useful, but at the stage where you're likely to get this wonder, the game is unlikely to be competitive - if it is competitive, you should go all out to get it before your opponents.
National Shield
Counts as a forcefield for every city.
Editorial:
Helpful for defence - if you are in a situation where the enemy is attacking you at this late stage and has a chance of winning, the national shield can be useful.
Philosopher's stone
Creates embassies in all other civilizations. Obsolete at Age of Reason.
Editorial:
Useless - mainly because it expires at Age of Reason.
Ramayana
+3 happiness throughout your civilization. Obsolete at Age of Reason.
Editorial:
To be avoided, generally, simply because Age of Reason will provide a nasty shock when the happiness of all your population drops by 3!
Sensorium
Eliminates unhappiness caused by pollution and more importantly overcrowding.
Editorial:
Very useful late game wonder. Greatly improves the effectiveness of cities with +15 population as you can now have more merchants, scientists, and laborers, instead of entertainers. Saves you the trouble of having to build Aquafilters and Arcologies
Sphinx
75% reduction in military support costs. Obsolete at Mass Production.
Editorial:
Depends on your play style - the computer AI loves it, but it should be 3rd on your priority list of early wonders after Stonehenge and the Labyrinth.
Star Ladder
Free space city, and free space launches (one per turn) in the city that builds it.
Editorial:
A free space city is great, and the free transport in and out of space can help cut down the pollution a little.
Stonehenge
+25% food in every city. Obsolete at Age of Reason.
Editorial:
The best early wonder as it allows faster expansion and faster growth of your entire empire without spending a massive amount on public works.
Wormhole Sensor
Allows construction of the Alien Life project.
Editorial:
Build this if you want the science victory.