Wonders

7:42 Civilization 3 has 24 Great Wonders in the 2001 base game, 25 with Play the World and 29 with Conquests: the 2001 manual's charts (pp. 101-102) list 24, Firaxis's own Civilization 4 feature comparison also counts 24 wonders and 10 Small Wonders for Civ 3, Play the World added the Internet, and the Complete manual's charts (pp. 132-133) list all 29. A Great Wonder can exist only once in the world: whoever finishes it first owns its effect, and every other city building it must switch. National wonders that every civilization may build once are Small Wonders and have their own page.

Quick facts

Sources: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 130-133 and 147; Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 134-136; Firaxis: The Wonders of Civ-Conquests.

How Great Wonders work

A Great Wonder needs an advance before any city can start it, and it can be built only while it does not already exist somewhere in the world, the Complete manual says on page 130. Any city can build one, and one city can hold several. The advances that open each wonder are on the Technologies page.

1:14:27 Losing a wonder race costs you the work. If another civilization completes the wonder your city is building, you must convert that production to something else, and "any excess shields are lost", in the Complete manual's words (p. 130). Prima's guide advises waiting until you have several thriving cities before committing one to a wonder, so the others can keep building units (Prima, p. 139).

2:07 Gold cannot buy a wonder. The only way to hurry one is a Great Leader, who finishes the city's current build in one turn and is used up, per the Complete manual (pp. 104 and 130); the 2001 manual adds that stockpiling Caravans no longer works as it did in Civilization 2. Players say Conquests narrowed this: the creator Suede says military Great Leaders there rush only Small Wonders, while Scientific Great Leaders can still hurry Great Wonders (see Great Leaders and Armies). Prima's tip is to switch a city to a wonder just before the leader arrives, since the leader completes it "no matter how far along it is" (Prima, p. 172). How leaders appear is on Great Leaders and Armies.

Wonders change hands with their cities. A captured Great Wonder passes to its captor with all its benefits, while a city that is razed takes its wonder with it, and that wonder can never be rebuilt, per the Complete manual (pp. 130-131). Small Wonders, by contrast, are always destroyed when their city is captured.

2:04:16 Some wonders go obsolete, but their culture never does. When anyone learns the advance that cancels a wonder (Education for the Great Library, Magnetism for the Great Lighthouse), its special effect ends, but the culture points keep coming every turn until the wonder is destroyed, the Complete manual explains (p. 131). That culture counts toward borders and a cultural victory: see Culture and Borders.

Three wonders need a coastal city. The Colossus, the Great Lighthouse and Magellan's Voyage can be built only in cities next to Sea squares, and inland seas do not count, Prima's guide notes (p. 137). The Statue of Zeus needs Ivory, per Firaxis's Conquests update, and the Manhattan Project needs Uranium.

Wonders can start a golden age. Each Great Wonder carries one or more civilization traits, and finishing wonders that match both of your civilization's traits triggers a golden age; Firaxis's example is the Great Wall, which matches both of China's traits, Militaristic and Industrious, at once (Firaxis: Wonders and Small Wonders). In Play the World, building the Internet also starts a golden age for a civilization that has not had one (Play the World manual, p. 22). See Golden Ages.

Conquests turned old wonders into tourist attractions. A Great Wonder at least 1,000 years old produces extra commerce for its city, says the Complete manual (p. 133), and Firaxis's Conquests update names 18 wonders with the tourism bonus, from the Pyramids and the Oracle to Hoover Dam and the United Nations; the longer a wonder has stood, the more it earns.

Every Great Wonder

Costs are in shields. Base-game costs, culture and obsolescence come from Prima's table; the Conquests wonders from Firaxis's update; effects follow the Complete manual, with version changes noted.

Sources: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 134-136 (Table 7-3), 2001; Firaxis (Ed Piper): The Wonders of Civ-Conquests, 2003; Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 132-133 and 147 (effects and culture), 2005; Play the World manual, p. 22, 2002; Civilization III manual (2001), pp. 101-102. No source read gives the Internet's cost or advance; the in-game Civilopedia does.

Wonders that changed between versions

1:09:24 Conquests reworked three base-game wonders after players called them weak. Firaxis's Conquests update says the Great Wall now adds Walls to every city on its continent instead of only strengthening existing ones, Shakespeare's Theater lets its city grow past size 12, and the Military Academy (a Small Wonder) gives every Army a bonus. The Complete manual's chart still prints the Great Wall's older wording.

Several Civilization 2 wonders work differently in Civ 3. Prima's guide (pp. 139-144) points out that the Pyramids, Hoover Dam and JS Bach's Cathedral now reach only cities on their own continent, Leonardo's Workshop now halves the cost of upgrades (and no longer expires), SETI doubles research in one city instead of acting as a Research Lab everywhere, and the Great Lighthouse no longer makes naval units veterans.

Which wonders to build

1:04 No source read ranks every wonder, but Prima's 2001 guide gives a priority for many of them. It calls the Great Library "easily the most important Wonder of Ancient Times", especially for a civilization behind in research, and pairs it with the Oracle and the Hanging Gardens as early priorities; the Hanging Gardens matter more the higher the difficulty (Prima, pp. 138-140).

For the Middle Ages, Prima favors JS Bach's Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel, calling Bach's "almost essential" at higher difficulty levels or under Republic and Democracy, and it rates Leonardo's Workshop, Smith's Trading Company and Shakespeare's Theater below them (Prima, pp. 141-145). It tells players to build Copernicus's Observatory, Newton's University and the SETI Program in one high-commerce city for the strongest research center.

Later, Prima calls Cure for Cancer "one of the top-priority Wonders of Modern Times", urges Hoover Dam on the continent with most of your cities, and advises leaving the Manhattan Project to rivals because it lets every civilization build nuclear weapons (Prima, pp. 138-143). The Great Lighthouse is "usually a low-priority one", and the Great Wall is worth it first only in an early war.

Firaxis pitched the Temple of Artemis as a culture weapon. Its Conquests update calls it one of the most expensive Ancient wonders at 500 shields and suggests pairing it with a Religious civilization, Monarchy and the Oracle to win over neighbors' cities by culture; see Culture Flipping.

Frequently asked questions

How many wonders are in Civ 3? Civilization 3 has 24 Great Wonders in the base game, per the 2001 manual's charts, and 29 in Civilization 3 Complete, per the Complete manual: Play the World added the Internet and Conquests added four. There are also 10 Small Wonders in the base game and 11 with Conquests.

What do the Pyramids do in Civ 3? In Civilization 3 the Pyramids act as a Granary in every one of your cities on the same continent; they cost 400 shields, need Masonry and never go obsolete, per Prima's guide (p. 135).

What does the Great Library do in Civ 3? The Great Library gives you any advance already known by two other civilizations you have met; it costs 300 shields, needs Literature and stops working once anyone learns Education, per Prima's guide (p. 134).

Can you buy a wonder with gold in Civ 3? No. In Civilization 3 the only way to hurry a wonder is a Great Leader, who finishes it in one turn and is used up, per the Complete manual (p. 130).

What happens to a wonder when its city is captured in Civ 3? A captured Great Wonder passes to the new owner with its benefits, but if the city is razed the wonder is lost forever and cannot be rebuilt, per the Civilization 3 Complete manual (pp. 130-131).

Do obsolete wonders still give culture in Civ 3? Yes. A Civilization 3 wonder made obsolete by an advance loses its special effect but keeps producing culture every turn, per the Complete manual (p. 131).

Which wonders give tourism in Civ 3? In Conquests, Great Wonders at least 1,000 years old produce extra commerce; Firaxis named 18, including the Pyramids, the Great Library, the Sistine Chapel and the United Nations.

Sources

• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete manual, Atari and Firaxis Games, 2005
• Civilization III manual, First Edition, Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 2001
• Civilization III: Play the World manual, Infogrames and Firaxis Games, 2002
• Sid Meier's Civilization III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, Prima Games, 2001
• Developer Update: The Wonders of Civ-Conquests (archived), Firaxis Games, 2003
• Developer Update: Wonders and Small Wonders (archived), Firaxis Games, 2001
• Civilization IV compare features (archived), 2K Games and Firaxis Games, 2005
• How To Play Your First Game Of Civ 3, Suede, Feb 12, 2020 (video)
• A Civilization 3 Retrospective | Prepare For Civ 7, GamerZakh, Aug 17, 2024 (video)
• The overlooked genius of Civilization 3, Suede, Oct 30, 2024 (video)
• The 12 most powerful techs in Civ 3, Suede, Dec 28, 2024 (video)