Small Wonders

Small Wonders are national wonders that every civilization in Civilization 3 may build once, unlocked by an achievement such as eight cities or five Banks rather than by an advance alone. The base game has 10 (the Forbidden Palace, the Heroic Epic, the Military Academy and others) and Conquests adds the Secret Police Headquarters for 11.

Small Wonders are national wonders that every civilization in Civilization 3 may build once: the base game has 10 and Conquests adds the Secret Police Headquarters for 11, per the Complete manual's chart (p. 131). Unlike Great Wonders, which exist once in the world, they are unlocked by achievements: Wall Street needs five Banks, the Pentagon three Armies in the field and the Forbidden Palace eight cities, as Firaxis explained before release. The most important is the Forbidden Palace, a second center against Corruption and Waste.

Quick facts

Small Wonders	10 in the base game; 11 with Conquests (the Secret Police Headquarters)
How many each	Each civilization may build each one once
Unlocked by	An achievement or condition (cities, buildings, Armies, a resource), sometimes with an advance
Captured	Always destroyed when their city is captured
Obsolete	Never
Rushing	Gold cannot; a Great Leader can
Cheapest	The Military Academy, 150 shields
Culture	1 to 4 points a turn (the Heroic Epic gives 4)

Sources: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 130-131 and 147; Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 134-136; Firaxis: Wonders and Small Wonders; Civilization III FAQ: Combat.

How Small Wonders work

A Small Wonder is not unique in the world, but each civilization can build only one of each, and only after reaching its prerequisite achievement, the Complete manual explains (pp. 128 and 131). The manual's reasoning: these are wonders "not quite remarkable enough to be unique", or so useful that limiting them to one civilization would make the game less fun.

Three rules set them apart from Great Wonders. Small Wonders are always destroyed when an enemy captures their city, while Great Wonders change hands; they never go obsolete; and there is no race, since a rival finishing one does not stop you building yours (Firaxis: Wonders and Small Wonders; Complete manual, p. 131).

11:47 A Great Leader can rush a Small Wonder too. The official Civilization III FAQ (Mar 2002) calls a leader "the only way to rapidly rush the completion of a Wonder or Small Wonder"; see Great Leaders and Armies.

Prima's guide says to build Great Wonders first when you must choose: rivals can take a Great Wonder from you, but a Small Wonder will still be there later (Prima, p. 136).

Every Small Wonder

Small Wonder	Era	Requirement	Cost	Culture	Effect	Added
Forbidden Palace	Ancient	8 cities	220	3	Lowers corruption and waste as if it were a second capital	Base
Heroic Epic	Ancient	A victory by an Army	240	4	Great Leaders appear more often from victories	Base
Iron Works	Ancient	Coal and Iron in the city radius	200	2	+100% production in its city	Base
Military Academy	Middle Ages	Military Tradition and 5 Barracks (Prima)	150	1	Builds Armies in its city without a leader. Conquests: every Army gets a bonus of one sixth of its combined attack and defense	Base
Wall Street	Middle Ages	5 Banks; 5 Stock Exchanges from Play the World on	Not given	2	Your treasury earns interest every turn	Base
Battlefield Medicine	Industrial	5 Hospitals	380	1	Your units heal in enemy territory	Base
Intelligence Agency	Industrial	Espionage	300	1	Enables espionage missions	Base
The Pentagon	Industrial	3 Armies in the field	180	1	Armies hold 4 units instead of 3	Base
Secret Police Headquarters	Industrial	Espionage; Communism	200	Not given	A second Forbidden Palace, for Communist civilizations only	Conquests
Apollo Program	Modern	Space Flight; Aluminum	400	3	Allows spaceship parts	Base
Strategic Missile Defense	Modern	Integrated Defense; 5 SAM Missile Batteries	320	1	75% chance to intercept each ICBM	Base

Sources: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 134-137 (Table 7-3), 2001; Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 131 and 147, 2005; Firaxis (Ed Piper): The Wonders of Civ-Conquests, 2003; Play the World manual, p. 22, 2002. No source read gives Wall Street's cost or its rate of interest.

The Palace

11:06 The Palace is the improvement every civilization starts with: it is built free in your first city, which becomes the capital. Prima's table gives it a cost of 100 shields, 1 culture point a turn and Masonry as its advance; it eliminates corruption and waste in the capital and lowers them in nearby cities (Prima, pp. 121 and 130). You may have only one: building it in another city removes it from the old capital.

Forbidden Palace

10:22 The Forbidden Palace "lowers corruption as if it were a second capital", in the Complete manual's words (p. 131), and it needs eight cities. Prima calls it an excellent way to patch corruption and waste when an empire reaches eight cities early, before Courthouses and Police Stations help, and advises building it in the city that suffers most (Prima, p. 138). The rules for distance and corruption are on Corruption and Waste.

Communists get a second one in Conquests. The Secret Police Headquarters needs Espionage and a Communist government, costs 200 shields and acts as another Forbidden Palace, which Firaxis says helps Communist governments run larger empires.

Military Small Wonders

The Heroic Epic, the Military Academy and the Pentagon work together for a warlike player. Prima's guide (pp. 140, 143-144 and 171-172) says the Heroic Epic raises an elite unit's chance of producing a leader after a victory from 1 in 16 to 1 in 12, but it needs an Army that has already won; the Military Academy "provides the only consistent way of producing Armies"; and the Pentagon, which needs three Armies in the field, lets each Army carry a fourth unit (Prima). Conquests also made Armies stronger through the Military Academy, per Firaxis's update. How Armies fight is on Great Leaders and Armies.

Battlefield Medicine lets damaged units heal inside enemy borders, where units normally cannot recover (Complete manual, p. 107). Prima calls it "a vital component of any militaristic strategy" because wounded units no longer have to walk home (Prima, p. 137); it needs five Hospitals.

Production and economy

The Iron Works doubles one city's production, but only where Coal and Iron are both inside the city's radius. Prima advises founding a city on such a site whenever one turns up, and building the Forbidden Palace there too if it is far from the capital, so the extra shields are not lost to waste (Prima, p. 141).

Wall Street pays interest on your treasury every turn. Its requirement changed in Play the World: five Stock Exchanges instead of five Banks, per the Play the World manual (p. 22).

Space and nuclear defense

The Apollo Program is a Small Wonder in Civilization 3, so every civilization that wants to launch a spaceship must build its own. Prima notes that this ends the old tactic of letting a rival pay for it, and that building it no longer reveals the whole map; it needs Space Flight and Aluminum (Prima, pp. 136-137). The rest of the race is on Space Race.

Strategic Missile Defense replaced Civilization 2's SDI Defense improvement. One Small Wonder protects every city with a 75% chance to intercept each ICBM, but units around a city are no longer covered, Prima explains (pp. 136 and 146); it needs Integrated Defense and five SAM Missile Batteries.

Frequently asked questions

How many Small Wonders are in Civ 3? Civilization 3 has 10 Small Wonders in the base game and 11 in Conquests and the Complete edition, which add the Secret Police Headquarters, per the Complete manual (p. 131).

How many cities do you need for the Forbidden Palace in Civ 3? Eight. In Civilization 3 the Forbidden Palace needs 8 cities, costs 220 shields and lowers corruption as if it were a second capital, per Prima's guide (p. 134).

What does the Heroic Epic do in Civ 3? The Heroic Epic raises the chance that an elite unit produces a Great Leader after a victory from 1 in 16 to 1 in 12, per Prima's Civilization 3 guide (pp. 134 and 172); you can build it only after one of your Armies has won a battle.

What does the Military Academy do in Civ 3? The Military Academy lets its city build Armies without a Great Leader, and in Conquests it also gives every Army a bonus of one sixth of its combined attack and defense, per Firaxis. Prima lists Military Tradition and five Barracks as its requirements.

What happens to Small Wonders when a city is captured in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, Small Wonders are always destroyed when their city is captured, unlike Great Wonders, which pass to the captor, per the Complete manual (p. 131).

Can you move the Palace in Civ 3? Yes. Building the Palace in another city of your Civilization 3 empire moves your capital there and removes it from the old one, per Prima's guide.