Statue of Zeus (Civ6)

Statue of Zeus
World wonder of the Classical Era
Introduced in Byzantium & Gaul Pack
Unlocked by	Military Training
Production cost	400
Removed if game started after	Renaissance Era
Effects
+3 Gold. Grants 3 Spearmen, 3 Archers, and a Battering Ram. +50% Production towards anti-cavalry units.

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 "Upon the head of the god was an olive crown; in his right hand he bore a winged figure of Victory."
– Samuel Augustus Mitchell

The Statue of Zeus is a Classical Era wonder in Civilization VI. It must be built on flat land adjacent to an Encampment with a Barracks.

• Effects:
  • +3 Gold
  • Grants 3 Spearmen, 3 Archers, and a Battering Ram.
  • +50% Production towards anti-cavalry units across your civilization.

Strategy

The most obvious benefit of the Statue of Zeus is 50% Production towards anti-cavalry units anywhere in your empire for the rest of the game. The +3 Gold per turn cannot be used to invest into anything, as its purpose is to alleviate the maintenance cost of the 7 units created by this wonder. Finally, it saves you 40 total Production on the Archers, Spearmen, and Battering Ram (400 versus 440 for all 7). However, if you consider the two following reasons, it can be clearly seen how terrible of an exchange this is:

• All 7 units belong to the Ancient Era. The Statue of Zeus is unlocked with a late Classical Era civic. Considering the pacing of Science and Culture in the first two eras, especially on higher difficulties, everyone is most likely in early Medieval Era on the tech tree, where the Man-At-Arms and Crossbowman are available. Spearman is a terrible unit even when compared to units of its own era, and Archers won't do a thing in Medieval, so in order for these units to be useful, you have to expend Gold to upgrade them. Upgrading a Spearman costs 240 Gold, upgrading an Archer costs 250, so upgrading all 6 will require almost 1500 Gold, almost equivalent to the wonder's original Production cost. If there is a wonder that grants you such a minor bonus, and if you want to make the bonus useful, you have to expend twice the Production cost in total, you know that is a bad deal.

• If you count the fact that you need to dedicate a District slot for an Encampment with a Barracks in it, the true Production cost of this wonder is actually higher, and that does not even take into account early wonders like the Statue of Zeus are often associated with high opportunity costs. Therefore, this wonder is suitable for players who want early conquest and would put down an early Encampment anyway, as it would give you a decent militaristic boost to surprise your neighbor with, especially if you chop a few Woods or Rainforest tiles with Magnus in the city. For defensive players who need a standing army against invasions, this wonder is one good way to throw a hefty amount of Production away for nothing. As previously detailed, the "free" units granted won't do anything at this day and age, and there is little reason for these civilizations to build en masse anti-cavalry units. Even when facing serious threats against an invading army of cavalry units, it is still advisable to just build anti-cavalry units the traditional way with appropriate policy cards.

The most glaring problem with this wonder is while its main selling point is supposed to be a long term investment into anti-cavalry units, this line of unit is so underused since it gets hard-countered by ranged and melee units and always outmaneuvered by cavalry units (the ones they are supposed to be "anti"). The Statue of Zeus fixes none of these issues. It basically makes anti-cavalry more appealing by making them a lot cheaper, especially when you can stack Production bonus with Policy cards, so the wonder goes well with aggressive leaders/civilizations that favor the use of anti-cavalry or ones that has a strong preference of quantity over quality, most notably Gorgo, Shaka/Zulu, Ambiorix, and Macedon.

Under Gorgo, you instantly gain three Hoplites and halve the Production cost of all future Hoplites when you build the Statue of Zeus, allowing yourself to begin swarming your neighbors. Keep in mind though, Hoplite overall is still an underwhelming unit, it is the weakest link in the Greek arsenal, and Hoplites/Spearmen phase out of relevance very quickly. Once it is gone, Gorgo has absolutely no preference to use anti-cavalry over melee units, so the Statue of Zeus is not really a good long term investment for Gorgo.

Shaka, with the Zulus, is probably the only one that would want to go out of their way just to build this wonder, as he benefits tremendously from the Production bonus, as the already cheaper Impi now can be produced even faster. In addition, the 50% faster promotion rate helps Impis earn Thrust faster, to offset the inherent de-buffs from this class. This bonus also applies to producing the Corps and Armies you have massively early access to.

Ambiorix's Combat Strength bonus applies to anti-cavalry units, and generally, he much prefers quantity to quality, so cheap units equal good units in his book. Not to mention, the free 7 units granted upon completion also grant Ambiorix extra 88 Culture, which is about two thirds of a free civic in this era. 

Macedon's unique Barracks, the Basilikoi Paides will give you a burst of 110 Science when the Statue of Zeus is completed. Furthermore, if you want to take Macedon down a Science-focused route on the back of the Basilikoi Paides, this wonder is quite valuable. The extra Production from the wonder stacks with appropriate policy cards can make anti-cavalry units incredibly cheap, and Macedon can produce them en masse and delete the units right after for the sole purpose of generating huge bursts of Science. If you just want to play Macedon the traditional way of a warmonger, this may be a little bit less useful, since Macedon doesn't have a strong preference for anti-cavalry units, but of course, cheap Science is always lovely.

Civilopedia entry

Phidias, the master sculptor who supervised the construction of the Parthenon, saw the statue of Athena within, and said, “Yes, but make it bigger.” Zeus would have been pleased by that statement, no doubt, and even happier by the outcome of his monument. The final statue featured Zeus seated on a throne and sat a massive 40 feet (he would have hit his head on the temple’s roof if he’d stood up). Gold and ivory were molded over a wooden core to create the god in all of his glory. Other precious materials like silver, ebony, and jewels were etched in to make fine details. On top of the god’s head was a wreath of olive branches and in his right hand the goddess Nike. An eagle perched on his scepter. For all of the statue (and Zeus’s) power, the statue was eventually removed and destroyed by either fire or natural disaster.

Trivia

• With the introduction of the Statue of Zeus, all Seven wonders of the Ancient World now feature in Civilization VI. Four were introduced in the base game, one in the Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack, and one in Rise and Fall.
• There are two unused quotes for this wonder in the game files:
  •  "So did he speak, and, at pausing, he sign'd with his shadowy eyebrows, And the ambrosial curls from the Head Everlasting were shaken, And at the nod of the King deep-trembled the lofty Olympus."
    – Homer
  •  "This is some hapless wanderer that has come hither. Him must we now tend, for all strangers and beggars are from Zeus."
    – Homer

Gallery

The Statue of Zeus completed

The Statue of Zeus, as seen in-game