Wonders of the World Civilization 1

Wonders of the World Civ1

There are 21 Wonders of the World in MicroProse's TBS Game of 1991, Civilization 1.

Each Wonder of the World belongs to an Epoch, and each has a cost in Shields as well as an Advances prerequisite.

Unlike City Improvements, Wonders of the World do not impose maintenance aka upkeep costs.

If playing against several other civs, the best early Wonder of the World is Great Library. Otherwise, the best Wonders in Civ1 are Pyramids, Colossus, Oracle, J.S. Bach's Cathedral, Michelangelo's Chapel and Hoover Dam.

 

• Apollo Program
• Colossus
• Copernicus' Observatory
• Cure for Cancer
• Darwin's Voyage
• Great Library
• Great Wall
• Hanging Gardens
• Hoover Dam
• Isaac Newton's College
• J.S. Bach's Cathedral
• Lighthouse
• Magellan's Expedition
• Manhattan Project
• Michelangelo's Chapel
• Oracle
• Pyramids
• SETI Program
• Shakespeare's Theatre
• United Nations
• Women's Suffrage

In trading River cities, the combination of Colossus, Pyramids (for early Democracy), Copernicus' Observatory and Isaac Newton's College are extremely powerful (500+ Knowledge Production in one city).

Note that the discovery of Electricity cancels the effect of Colossus, which can reduce discovery rate (aka Research aka Knowledge Production) by 100 points in Knowledge Production cities. Therefore, it can be advantageous to delay the acquisition of Electricity (using the Colossus-derived KP to acquire other Advances in the meantime). In addition, Automobile cancels the effect of Copernicus' Observatory and Nuclear Fission cancels the effect of Isaac Newton's College.

On Emperor difficulty level, Hanging Gardens, Oracle, J.S. Bach's Cathedral and Michelangelo's Chapel are much more important due to the "happiness" penalty.

Note that AI civs do not actually build Wonders of the World like players do. Instead, Wonders of the World are randomly assigned to AI civs on a given turn. Therefore, if an AI civ beats you to a Wonder you can just reload the game to a previous turn (which is save-scumming aka cheating).

cf. Wonders of the World Civiliation 2 --- Founding Fathers Sid Meier's Colonization.

Back to: Civ1 Guide.