AI Wonder Stealing

[[CoH] Joker]

Does anyone know of any way to slow down the AI's stealing Wonders out from under you? I am getting very tired of seeing absolutely every wonder I try to build get taken from me with 1 or 2 turns left to complete.

[Alucard †]

yes...
steal back wonders from them

by force!

[Vinyl Scratch]

Get better production in your city.

If you notice an AI building a wonder that you REALLY REALLY want, try declaring war on them, and sending a Scout or 2 into their borders to pillage High Production Tiles.
Chances are the war declaration alone will change their priority, but keep in mind it's not for sure...They might still build them.

Steal the wonders through Conquest if you really really wanted it that much.

Other than that, there's not much you can do...everyone's a player and has a chance at every wonder (unless you're playing on Diety/Immortal in which case you have no chance at all in the early game)
Just learn when to prioritize certain wonders, and also learn to Wonder Spot the AI's capitals, you can physically see Wonders being built in other cities as long as there's no Fog cover (the Great Wall and Great Firewall cannot be seen), so if you're thinking about making a wonder...check around the capital cities of the AI and see if they might be building something already.

[JC]

One way to do it would be to get the target AI into a war, either you start it (risking your diplomatic relations) or pay another AI (preferrably the target AI's neighbor who has a strong military) to declare it. Usually AI will stop wonder building for several turns to prioritize building up army.

[di eshor ribly]

Some of the other not-so-obvious options besides slowing down the ai through war can be quite devious depending on what wonder you're going after.

The mundane options: Great Engineer (enough said there), Interior Trade Routes (increase production while building the wonder), and using the Citizen Control panel in your city. While researching the tech for a wonder stick it on Food Priority, get increased population a little faster, and then during construction move them to Production and reap the benefits of more workers doing their jobs.

The sneaky options: This is where it can get funny depending on circumstances like particular wonders. If you happen to see a civ start a wonder you want that has a requirement, like "Civ Must Have XXXXXX In Every City", plop down a crappy little outpost town near minimal resources (a 1-tile island in the middle of the ocean is great for this) and a few turns later give it to the enemy civ. They'll be forced to stop production on the wonder until they build the requisite city improvements. Even without having a 'locked' wonder this still helps, as the AI will prioritize building extra units for city protection over continuing a wonder.

Also consider what social policies you have. If you're getting beaten to a wonder by 1-2 turns and you haven't grabbed the Wonder production policy from Tradition for example, picking it up if it's feasible will be a huge boost. Any production bonus policy is a good choice (minus Exploration's '+3 to coastal production' if you're landlocked.

[Matthew]

Up to Emperor you can usually get any wonder with a proper tech bee-line to said wonder. Occasionally you will get your target wonder sniped from you, but overall you should be able to get what you want.

On those difficulties the important thing is balance. If you just sit in a low tech city queueing up wonder after wonder, you will just fall farther and farther behind, constantly losing hammers and time. You need to go in with a plan, be choosy about your gameplan. If you go into a game going for Parthenon, you have a good chance at missing out on Hanging Gardens or Petra. If you go for Great Library, you have a good chance at missing out on Stonehenge.

On Immortal, with good production and tech these same rules apply, but there is quite a bit more RNG. For example sometimes Notre Dame won't go until late T150 or so, which is way more than enough time to self-build it. Other times it will go as early as T100, which is difficult to do even if you try and use Liberty GE for it.

On Deity, it is usually best just to ignore wonders unless you have a GE or a massive tech advantage (which won't happen until Renaissance or later anyway). Some wonders are still slow to go, like Pyramids, Sistine, Oracale (if Pacal isn't in game), etc. Most others will be built before you even get to the tech.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Originally posted by Matthew:

like Pyramids, Sistine, Oracale (if Pacal isn't in game), etc. Most others will be built before you even get to the tech.

Speaking of Wonders like these...Make sure you pay attention to the other civs.
Look at where their cities are located, and what Policy Tree they've gone into.

Did any take Tradition? If no, Hanging Gardens is a reasonable goal to attempt
Liberty? No? Pyramids

Look at their land...Is anyone adjecent to desert? No? Go for Petra if you're able to.
Coastal Cities? Most likely yes...but are their big cities coastal? Is their Capital Coastal? If no..Colosus might be an option.

Mountains? Does anyone have a mountain within 2 tiles of their city? No? Machu Pichu and Naushwenstien.

Stuff like that.