List of wonders in Civ2

Back to Civilization II
Back to Wonder (Civ2)

The following is a list of wonders in Civilization II and its expansions.

Wonders in Civilization II are divided into groups according to epoch, each of which have seven to build.

Wonders of the Ancient World

Wonder	Prereq	Effects	Obsolete	Notes
Pyramids	Masonry	Counts as a granary in all owner's cities
Hanging Gardens	Pottery	Makes the people in owner cities happier	Railroad
Colossus	Bronze Working	Gives extra trade in trade producing tiles in that city.	Flight
Lighthouse	Map Making	Prevents owner's Triremes from being lost at sea. Adds one movement to all sea units.	Magnetism	Only triremes get lost, and this is only for human players
Great Library	Literacy	Gives the owner scientific advances that two other kingdoms have	Electricity	The player who discovers philosophy also gets a free advance
Oracle	Mysticism	Double the effect of temples.	Theology
Great Wall	Masonry	Acts as free City Walls in all owner's cities. Doubles owner defense from Barbarians and forces other kingdoms to offer peace, within reason	Metallurgy

Wonders of the Renaissance

Wonder	Prereq	Effects	Obsolete	Notes
Sun Tzu's War Academy	Feudalism	All ground units start as veterans, which can withstand battles longer Existing units become veterans upon their first fight	Mobile Warfare
King Richard's Crusade	Engineering	Give an extra resource shield on every exploited tile in that city	Industrialization
Marco Polo's Embassy	Trade	Gives owner an embassy with every nation	Communism	If owner used Diplomats to establish embassies before controlling this wonder, they will be retained after obsoletion.
Michelangelo's Chapel	Monotheism	Counts as a cathedral in all cites		You should sell your existing cathedrals unless you fear you might lose the wonder
Copernicus' Observatory	Astronomy	Increases that city's science output by 50%
Magellan's Expedition	Navigation	Gives owner ships 2 extra movement points, and all owner ships are built as veteran.
Shakespeare's Theatre	Medicine	Eliminates unhappiness in the City this wonder is built in.

Wonders of the Industrial World

Wonder	Prereq	Effects	Obsolete	Notes
Leonardo's Workshop	Invention	Automatically upgrades obsolete units; takes effect when constructed, captured, and when owner achieves a technological advance.	Automobile
J.S. Bach's Cathedral	Theology	Decreases unhappy citizens (up to 2 per city) on the same continent
Isaac Newton's College	Theory of Gravity	Doubles that city's science output		If you already have Copernicus' Observatory in that city, you are already up 50%, but add this to the city and you are at 150% capacity for scientific research.
Adam Smith's Trading Co.	Economics	Pays maintenance for all buildings with upkeep of 1.		Pays the maintenance costs of buildings that cost 1 gold: Temples, libraries, harbors, granaries, marketplaces, barracks, coastal fortress, courthouse
Darwin's Voyage	Railroad	Gives owner 2 free advances
Statue of Liberty	Democracy	Eliminates periods of unrest between government change and allows owner to choose any government even if owner hasn't discovered it yet
Eiffel Tower	Steam Engine	Creates a favorable image with other kingdoms and they will forget past mistakes.		This is your only chance to have a spotless reputation if you have had a less than perfect one in the past.

Wonders of the Modern World

Wonder	Prereq	Effects	Obsolete	Notes
Women's Suffrage	Industrialization	Counts as a police station in all cities thus decreasing unhappiness in cities by 1 when troops are away
Hoover Dam	Electronics	Counts as a hydro plant in all friendly cities.
Manhattan Project	Nuclear Fission	Allows any civilization with the technology to start building nuclear weapons
United Nations	Communism	Gives owner an embassy in all nations and will force enemies to offer peace treaties with owner, within reason
Apollo Program	Space Flight	Allows all nations with the technology to build spaceships, and reveals entire map to all players
SETI Program	Computers	Counts as a research lab in every city
Cure for Cancer	Genetic Engineering	Creates one happy citizen in all cities. In demographics it will boost owner lifespan to number one.

Wonders of the World and gameplay

All Wonders of the World have their own prerequisite technology in order to be able to construct them (e.g. Map Making for the Lighthouse, Bronze Working for the Colossus, and Pottery for the Hanging Gardens). Certain technologies cause the expiration of a particular Wonder's benefits (e.g. Magnetism, Flight and Railroad for the three Wonders mentioned above, respectively). Ten Wonders have technologies that make them expire, but eighteen do not.

Wonders of the World can be categorized into those that affect happiness, cities and buildings, units and movement, technology, diplomacy and finally economics. Wonders can be city-specific, continent-specific, civilization-specific, while three effect all players. City-specific Wonders affect only the city in which it was built (such as the Colossus, which grants an extra trade arrow in utilized squares of that city's radius). Continent-specific wonders only affect cities on the same continent in which it was built (such as J. S. Bach's Cathedral and Hoover Dam). Civilization-specific Wonders affect the entire empire that controls it (such as the Hanging Gardens, which grants +1 happiness in all cities of the same civilization). International wonders are the United Nations (brings all civs into contact), the Manhattan Project (allows all civs to build nuclear bombs, provided they have the required technology), and the Apollo Program (reveals the entire map to all players).

When a civilization-specific Wonder does not expire, its effects can dramatically affect gameplay. For example, building (or capturing) Michelangelo's Chapel immediately puts a Cathedral in every city of the controlling civilization, greatly promoting happiness. Of course, this makes the cities that contain those Wonders all the more crucial to defend, since losing the city to conquest causes the benefits of that Wonder to be lost (and switch over to the capturing player if the city survives). Accordingly, certain Wonders have a 'must' status in certain types of games or for certain types of players. For example, the Pyramids (+50% retention of food surplus after city growth), Michelangelo's Chapel (Cathedral in every city), J.S. Bach's Cathedral (free additional temple) and Leonardo's Workshop (automatic unit upgrades - until the development of the Automobile) are valuable for expanding empires and/or gameplay at the more difficult levels. Additionally, warmongering empires will seek to build the Great Wall and Sun Tzu's War Academy.

Alternatively, one can temporarily cripple a rival civilization by causing their Wonder of the World to expire, such as when any player learns Metallurgy causing the Great Wall to expire (and the free city-walls in each of the controlling player's cities suddenly disappear).

Civilization II Wonders [edit]
Ancient World	Colossus Great Library Great Wall Hanging Gardens Lighthouse Oracle Pyramids
Renaissance	Copernicus' Observatory King Richard's Crusade Magellan's Expedition Marco Polo's Embassy Michelangelo's Chapel Shakespeare's Theatre Sun Tzu's War Academy
Industrial Revolution	Adam Smith's Trading Company Darwin's Voyage Eiffel Tower Isaac Newton's College J. S. Bach's Cathedral Leonardo's Workshop Statue of Liberty
Modern World	Apollo Program Cure for Cancer Hoover Dam Manhattan Project SETI Program United Nations Women's Suffrage