A basic guide to Ancient Wonders

[DeletedUser3312]

Also you should get rid of it.

I agree Soggs. That and the Tomb of secrets are complete waste of time, effort, and space! Just leave them in the AW tab and ignore them both. The only one I have out is the Golden Abyss. I love it. It gives population and coins and more of each with each upgrade. and only 3 x 3.

 

[DeletedUser43]

Just visiting neighbors gives you a relic in those little treasure chests!

The POS....I mean TOS...yes....complete waste of time.

 

[Mykan]

That and the Tomb of secrets are complete waste of time, effort, and space!

I disagree, the more I consider this one the more I like it. Of course the benefit of any wonder depends completely on each player and their own strategy.

 

[DeletedUser43]

Being that we aren't allowed to scout provinces any more without getting our hand slapped, and getting a kp or two every 24 hours? I can't see it as having any use for me.

Why do you like it Mykan? I'm curious.

 

[Mykan]

I find most wonders have a primary benefit and a secondary. For me this wonder the secondary benefit is the supplies, the KP is the primary benefit. An extra 1,2, or 3KP is an extra 4, 8, or 12.5% faster KP production. For doing nothing more then building it I can generate more KP then a player without the wonder.

This turns into multiple options in either the short or long term. Take level 1 for example, over a year that is 300-365 extra KP for me. That could be 2 wonder levels while still doing the tech tree at the same time as someone else. It could mean a few extra techs faster then someone else. In the short term this gives me more "fire power" for competing in wonder contributions which improves my chance of gaining a guaranteed rune for a wonder. This also reduces the urge/need to buy kp with coins/goods freeing those up for other options or just adding to whatever reason I am keen for KP.

It is often argued that one should not build it as it takes x time to repay the KP. However if you flip the way you look at that argument you could say it is the only wonder worth building as it is the only wonder that pays back the KP put into it. No other wonder ever returns my investment in KP. If you plan on building all of the wonders and been around the game for a long time this wonder can save you months or a year + in time from extra KP.

A person planning a strong negotiation route has less wonders to pick from as many of the wonders are military in nature, in fact they could possibly use all non military wonders if they desire. This one makes for a nice economic addition. If you are going the military route you have to debate between which wonders are more important for the space you have allocated to wonders.

The supplies are a bonus. Not as effective as a workshop but they help in a game heavy on supplies and add to the unique aspect of this wonder.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I've only had the ToS built for a couple days at atime before destroying it, but if I recall correctly you have to collect the KP, so if you miss it by a few hours you aren't even getting 1 every 24h.
I do see your point about getting +4% KP over another player, but I don't think that factors in where KP come from. Once you add in KP bought with goods/coins, and tournaments and clearing provinces that 4% gets to be a smaller advantage.
Edit: If you are at the end of the tech tree, and for some reason don't have other wonders to contribute to, cranking up the ToS so that you get 3 per day once a new chapter is released could make sense.

 

[Mykan]

I've only had the ToS built for a couple days at atime before destroying it, but if I recall correctly you have to collect the KP, so if you miss it by a few hours you aren't even getting 1 every 24h.
I do see your point about getting +4% KP over another player, but I don't think that factors in where KP come from. Once you add in KP bought with goods/coins, and tournaments and clearing provinces that 4% gets to be a smaller advantage

Yeah that's why I said 300 KP over a year, just put the range in for more eager players. You also lose time for upgrading it.

You are correct the % increases dilutes as people buy KP and that depends a lot on each player and their strategy. But at the same time the more you buy KP the more the price goes up which increases the relative benefit of the wonder. Granted people don't rave about extra coins but it is common for people to spend over 200K per KP point, goods are where it becomes more interesting for x thousand goods it could equate to and the supplies required to make those.

 

[DeletedUser43]

But you do have to consider the kp you spend to build it. You also have the opportunity costs. While that wonder is being upgraded, more useful wonders are not getting the kp. I suppose maybe if this is your absolute wonder after the rest are all maxed out.

I'm glad you like it though. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Mykan]

But you do have to consider the kp you spend to build it. You also have the opportunity costs. While that wonder is being upgraded, more useful wonders are not getting the kp. I suppose maybe if this is your absolute wonder after the rest are all maxed out.

I'm glad you like it though. Thanks for the explanation.

All wonders have KP to build and an opportunity cost. That is part of the challenge of space, each person's play style and strategy. A wonder's usefulness depends on those unique factors. For example I have a town based on negotiation, so a monastery is a useless wonder for that town, however mountain halls is amazing as it matches my production strategy exactly.

Wonders allow for a customisation of a town to suit each person, which gives us lots of diversity.

 

[DeletedUser43]

Wonders allow for a customisation of a town to suit each person, which gives us lots of diversity.

Agreed! And that is wonderful!

 

[DeletedUser2753]

Explorers love analysis, but once they've got a spreadsheet that works they'll go explore something else

Kat: since you favor cartoons here is one.

 

[DeletedUser2312]

I hadn't been playing the tournaments, they seemed like a waste of time for me until I got my own AW's and got bogged down in the dwarves chapter. It has become a source of KP's and Runes for me. Is there a correlation between the the type of tournament and the type of rune/shard that is being awarded? I haven't discerned one and haven't been disciplined enough to tally my results to this point.

 

[DeletedUser3640]

I hadn't been playing the tournaments, they seemed like a waste of time for me until I got my own AW's and got bogged down in the dwarves chapter. It has become a source of KP's and Runes for me. Is there a correlation between the the type of tournament and the type of rune/shard that is being awarded? I haven't discerned one and haven't been disciplined enough to tally my results to this point.

There's no correlation between the the type of tournament and the type of rune/shard that is being awarded.

 

[Alphonsus]

Soooooo, here's a question. Does anybody have anything good to say about the Martial Monastery? Has anyone built it and actually ended up being glad that they did?

It added a facade to he mountain in back of my city. I see other facades in he game but cant seem to find out how to get them ..When I built the martial monastary though it did put tha nice facade up.

 

[Thistleknot]

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/mykans-guide-wonders.4029/

For those looking at wonders, I did an analysis of them a while back. Mykan put it in his guide. I put the link here. Go down to #4 and expand it to get the full description. This was done before the combat update, so some of it is slightly outdated.

 

[Mykan]

It added a facade to he mountain in back of my city. I see other facades in he game but cant seem to find out how to get them ..When I built the martial monastary though it did put tha nice facade up.

Have a look at the link posted above. The guide mentions which wonders provide a background (no photos though) and identifies the wonders that provide an avatar with a picture of the avatar (not orc wonders yet).

Edit: Backdrop images are now added to the guide.

 

[DeletedUser3686]

Came here wondering if ToS is even worth it. I've already built it, and other players have given enough KP to get it nearly level 3. Although the extra Supplies are nice per scout, I could easily gain what ToS puts out with just one 15 minute production in one workshop. At this point ToS seems like a waste of space. Definitely thinking about deleting it after rewards are collected for the level.

Also considering deleting Endless Excavation. I have no problem getting relics since I participate in the tournaments every week and get far more relics that way than I do by completing provinces, even with EE.

Golden Abyss is fantastic. It only takes up 9 squares, and level three gives almost as much population as a level 15 residence, at level four it will give even more. It's pretty too, so definitely a keeper.

Don't have Needles of Tempest just yet, but seems worth it for the training speed and light unit boosts. Are there any disadvantages to this one? I can see how it would be useless to a player who doesn't want to fight in the game, but is the benefit to a fighting player worth it?

 

[DeletedUser43]

With the old battle system the Needles of the Tempest was one of the best wonders. But now, troops train so quickly that I can't even get a whole night production out of them. I suppose the light units get a boost, but hey, I can't tell. They get creamed no matter what. I am sure there is some goldilocks zone where this useful. Maybe the fighters can tell you. Mykan can probably answer this better than I can.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Also considering deleting Endless Excavation. I have no problem getting relics since I participate in the tournaments every week and get far more relics that way than I do by completing provinces, even with EE.

Until there is a system for converting runes many of us are building and destroying wonders to use runes for broken shards to use on "good" wonders.
With the new combat system there is a good spot to do this:
Since fights are much easier at the end of a chapter (once you have all squad size upgrades) you can build troops during the chapter, and at the end build your EE, crush the required provinces to unlock the next chapter, and then delete it. Should net you some extra relics.
Realistically after you have done your boosted tournament 3x you will probably have hit the +700% production cap, and only use relics for wonder upgrades and spells-- so you probably won't do this trick more than twice

 

[Mykan]

Came here wondering if ToS is even worth it. I've already built it, and other players have given enough KP to get it nearly level 3. Although the extra Supplies are nice per scout, I could easily gain what ToS puts out with just one 15 minute production in one workshop. At this point ToS seems like a waste of space. Definitely thinking about deleting it after rewards are collected for the level.

Personally I like ToS and I can give the same reason to keep it as others give to delete it, it gives you KP. The supplies are just icing and not the main benefit in my view. The question is do you like/want the extra KP. I just got one of these to level 6 and 2KP a day is very nice. That is 600-730 extra KP in a year, something I personally appreciate, at level 1 it is 300-365 extra KP a year.

Also considering deleting Endless Excavation. I have no problem getting relics since I participate in the tournaments every week and get far more relics that way than I do by completing provinces, even with EE.

Yeah hard to say on this one, I find there is not enough relics to run the MA as much as I want but it is hard to justify the space for it. I have this in the odd town simply cause I have the room.

Don't have Needles of Tempest just yet, but seems worth it for the training speed and light unit boosts. Are there any disadvantages to this one? I can see how it would be useless to a player who doesn't want to fight in the game, but is the benefit to a fighting player worth it?

I do like this one, the strong archers is nice and archers are quite handy now. As they die fast due to high initiative a strong hit before they fall is helpful. The faster barracks time depends on your playtime. If you play regularly during the day it may be of little benefit. If you have shorter periods of active play then it is nice as you can pump out more troops during that active play then you would otherwise.

I have a section in my guide on wonders with some information about the different ones and there is also an analysis posted by another player there as well.

Edit: Oh certain wonders benefit from your culture bonus - Gold abyss, endless excavation, prosperity towers. If you plan on having a culture bonus it improves these wonders.