Wonders of the Ancient World (Civ5)

Wonders of the Ancient World image

Wonders of the Ancient World is a scenario in Civilization V, released with the Scenario Pack: Wonders of the Ancient World.

Description

Oh great leader, may the visions of grand construction and transcendent architecture guide your rule! Your fledgling civilization has a glorious opportunity to settle and cultivate this Fertile Crescent. In time, your people will build thriving cities and grow strong in the ways of war, trade, science and the arts. It is only natural that you build great monuments to celebrate these successes! You should know, your rivals won't stand by idly while you construct the world's greatest Wonders, so you should prepare your cities to build these marvels first. Only the civilization with the most magnificent monuments, the grandest Wonders the world has ever known, shall be revered for the rest of time!

Gameplay

The special Wonder Status screen of the scenario

The scenario is a contest between five ancient civilizations to have the highest score when the nine available wonders are built. The wonders in the scenario are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria; plus two additional wonders, the Oracle of Delphi and the Library of Alexandria.

The wonders are not unlocked by technologies, but rather by earning the right to build them through the accumulation of various points, such as Total Gross Income, Total Accumulated Culture, Total Accumulated Great General Points, and Number of Technologies. The exception to this is the Oracle, which is available from the start. Bringing a Great Person within 2 hexes of the city that built the Oracle will allow you to see the wonder progress of your rivals for five turns. Doing this will not expend the Great Person, but will make them unable to consult the Oracle again, so if you have built the Oracle, it is advisable to have every Great Person you acquire consult the Oracle before you expend them.

The pace of research and policy acquisition is slowed so players can "immerse [themselves] in this distant age." Cities cannot be razed, so wonders cannot be destroyed. For every wonder owned by a civ, they gain 500 victory points, but building a wonder grants the civ that built it 1,000 victory points. This means, if you build a wonder and prevent it from being taken over, you will get 1,500 victory points for it. Therefore, it is recommended that you should try to aggressively build the wonders, instead of trying to conquer them. However, you can still win by conquering all four enemy capitals before all nine wonders are built, even if you don't have the highest score.

Strategy

The placement of cities is also particularly important; firstly, two of the wonders require a coastal city. (The default map is Inland Sea and fairly small, so if the edge of the map is sighted, send your scouts in the opposite direction.) A second notable change is that enemy cities cannot be razed once conquered – forward settling becomes particularly problematic due to large Unhappiness penalties and poor AI placement. In accordance with the slow advancement of technology, Greece has the easiest time due to City-State luxuries and two helpful unique units. The horse-less War Chariot of Egypt continues to be powerful; the Sumerians have the Babylon bonus and some situational unique items.

Civilizations

You can play as one of five civilizations in the scenario, three of which are already present in the game (Egypt, Persia, and Greece), while the other two are unique to the scenario (Sumer and the Hittites). Some of the city lists have been changed in this scenario to better reflect their locations on the scenario's Historical map. The Egyptian ability has been changed so as to not give them an unfair advantage when building wonders in the scenario, and their unique building has also been changed for unknown reasons.

• Egypt
  • Leader: Ramesses II
  • Unique Ability: Cult of Osiris (+1 Culture from all buildings that provide Culture.)
  • Unique Unit(s): War Chariot (replaces Chariot Archer)
  • Unique Building: Nilometer (replaces Water Mill)
  • Capital: Memphis
• Sumer
  • Leader: Gilgamesh, a reused Harun al-Rashid
  • Unique Ability: Land of Two Rivers (Receive free Great Scientist when you discover Writing. All units pay just 1 movement to enter any tile adjacent to a river.)
  • Unique Unit(s): Phalanx (replaces Spearman)
  • Unique Building: Ziggurat (replaces Temple)
  • Capital: Ur
• Persia
  • Leader: Darius I
  • Unique Ability: Achaemenid Legacy ( Golden Ages last 50% longer. During a Golden Age, units receive +1 Movement and a +10% Combat Strength bonus.)
  • Unique Unit(s): Immortal (replaces Spearman)
  • Unique Building: Satrap's Court (replaces Market)
  • Capital: Ecbatana
• Greece
  • Leader: Alexander
  • Unique Ability: Hellenic League (City-State Influence degrades at half and recovers at twice the normal rate.)
  • Unique Unit(s): Hoplite (replaces Spearman), Companion Cavalry (replaces Horseman)
  • Capital: Athens
• The Hittites
  • Leader: Muwatallis, a reused Suleiman
  • Unique Ability: First to Iron (Strategic resources provide +1 Production. Horses and Iron resources provide double quantity.)
  • Unique Unit(s): Heavy Chariot (replaces Chariot Archer)
  • Unique Building: Lion's Gate (replaces Walls)
  • Capital: Hattusa

Special features

Units

• Heavy Chariot
• Phalanx

Buildings

• Lion's Gate
• Nilometer
• Ziggurat

City-states

Type	City-State
	Byblos
	Cyrene
	Elam
	Enkomi
	Knossos
	Nakhchivan
	Seuthopolis
	Sharuhen
	Stobi
	Troy
	Ugarit
	Washukanni

Natural wonders

• Cappadocia (a reused The Grand Mesa)
• Mount Ararat (a reused Mt. Fuji)
• Mount Olympus (a reused Rock of Gibraltar)
• Mount Thera (a reused Krakatoa)

They appear in their historic locations on the Historical map. The randomized map uses some of the original natural wonders as well.

Gallery

Videos

Civilization V- Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario Pack

Related achievements

Wonderwall Build 3 Wonders in the same city in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario. A reference to the song of the same name by the band Oasis.

Know Thy Enemy Consult the Oracle 2 times in a single game in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Thoughtful Telemachus Win on Prince in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Party in hattUSA Win as Muwatallis in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario. Wordplay conflating Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire, with the Miley Cyrus song "Party in the U.S.A."

Ra's Mighty Truth Win as Ramesses II in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Epic Gilgamesh Win as Gilgamesh in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario. References the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian epic poem.

Grecian Formula Win as Alexander in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

It satrap! Win as Darius I in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario. A pun on "It's a trap!", famously exclaimed by Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi, and the word "satrap", a governor of a province in the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires, among others.

Reverse Engineer Gain possession of 3 Wonders by conquering cities in a single game in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Odysseus the Great Tactician Win on King in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

All-Achieving Zeus Win on Deity in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Bright-Eyed Athena Win on Immortal in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Far-Shooting Apollo Win on Emperor in the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario.

Civilization V Scenarios [edit]
1066: Year of Viking Destiny1 American Civil War Conquest of the New World1 Empires of the Smoky Skies Fall of Rome Into the Renaissance Paradise Found1 Rise of the Mongols1 Scramble for Africa The Samurai Invasion of Korea1 Wonders of the Ancient World1
1 Requires a DLC Added in the Gods & Kings expansion pack. Added in the Brave New World expansion pack.