If you like this series of articles, please rate this in your favorite social media forum ("like" it, +1, or just share with friends). This is the first in a series of articles examining specific cards in Through the Ages. I have separated these topics out into a distinct section of the forum, located here: http://gamesstrategyandtactics.freeforums.org/individual-cards-f7.htmlPyramids
Hidden Cost
Pyramids have a hidden cost associated with them, one most people (including myself), often oversee. The cost is related to this section of the rules:
"The cost to take a Wonder card is increased by 1 Civil Action for every Wonder you already have built."
Basically, if planning on taking a wonder after Pyramids, the building of Pyramids increases the cost of that Wonder by an additional 1 Civil Action. This
cost should be factored into the Pyramids return diagram.
cost should be factored into the Pyramids return diagram.
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| Pyramids Return Diagram |
Combinations
None
Alternatives
Code of Laws
Same effect in exchange for 6 Science and two actions. COL is potentially available later than Pyramids, but its ROI is quicker given only two actions are required to bring it into play.
Government - Even With Revolution (except Theocracy)
Instead of viewing Pyramids as a Wonder, view it as a Government undergoing Revolution from Despotism. Effectively, this is what Pyramids provides: Five actions and six ore to gain 1 Civil Action per turn (reality is, everyone wants at least 2 Wonders, so it will cost 5 actions).
Using just 3 science the same can be achieved by taking Monarchy and undergo Revolution: loss of 5 actions to gain 1 Civil Action per turn. Plus, Monarchy grants one Military Action and an additional urban build. This is not to say I recommend revolution to change to Monarchy, just it is a fair comparison to Pyramids. This argument can stand up against any other non-Theocracy government just as effectively.
My Verdict
Overall, I believe Pyramids is overrated. It does not provide as much bang for its buck as originally anticipated. Plus, there is the opportunity cost of having a different Wonder show up in the card row but not being able to take it because Pyramids is not yet completed. Lastly, what else could be accomplished with those 4 actions and 6 ore?
This is equivalent to:
- 3 Farms and/or Mines
- This sets up the economy for the long haul.
- 1 Philosophy and 1 Religion
- Religion is often handled through the event "Development of Religion", but if DoR does not come up or is a late arrival, this can quickly generate the happiness and culture for a start.
- Increasing Science a turn earlier means faster response to many of the cards which come up (such as Code of Laws)
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| Or perhaps Mines? |
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| Philosophy: Possible Replacement? |
If I did build the Pyramids, I think it would make a great target for the Ravages of Time Event. Turning 1 Civil Action into 2 Culture per turn. This is a great trade since the actual ratio of civil action-to-culture score does not calculate out that high normally (roughly: 1 Civil Action = 1.45 Culture, read this to see how this is calculated).
I believe there are far better options available than the Pyramids.
I'm interested in hearing others opinions and comments on Pyramids, please leave them below or discuss at the forum.
I'm interested in hearing others opinions and comments on Pyramids, please leave them below or discuss at the forum.
6 comments:
That -is- unexpected. The net result is you spend 6 minerals to gain twelve civil actions... While not building any infrastructure.
Okay, I can see why you think thats overrated now.
On the other hand, the arrival time of the wonder is the only certain CA increase aside from Hammurabi. Everything else has variable arrival times.
Final note, don't forget that Age A wonders are the most valuable for the wonder relevant scoring card. It's not much, but that is a slight plus.
Also, situations and opportunities may arise that may skew the equations. Like grabbing an engineering genius (3 or 4 rock instead of six), discovering Masonry (two actions, instead of 3 to build). Plus having an extra action can be huge early in the game, perhaps allowing you to, grab Knights, Iron, Alchemy, etc. from the the card row for two actions and still leave three actions to perform other improvements.
I consider using Engineering Genius or Mineral Deposits as an increase in Actions required to bring Pyramids into play. In the case of EG, it brings it into play quicker, but costs 1 additional action. For MD, it will bring it into play, but takes up 2 more actions.
With EG, the net effect on Pyramids Return is: 0. This amazed me. For MD, the effect is to reduce the Action return by 1.
Overall, EG is the quickest way to bring Pyramids into play, but the net return is the same as if it is brought into play without EG. I will review how often each Wonder is played and see if there is a correlation with the player's ending position.
OK! I completed the analysis on Pyramids and discovered something interesting:
Players who build the Pyramids appear to end in Last place one-third of the time. I tested for statistical significance, and Pyramids had the third highest correlation between being "Built and ending Last".
This will be coming out in an upcoming blog currently scheduled for the 19th.
Hello, while well thought out, I think your reasoning is a little off in declaring the Pyramids extremely overrated.
#1) your equating the Pyramids to 3 mines/farms does not seem to factor in the happiness/corruption issues they would entail. There are rarely much better ways to use early extra actions than building a wonder with tangible long term benefits. With the right events/cards there may be better options but you can't count on that.
#2) The main benefit you're overlooking with the Pyramids is WHEN you're getting the extra actions. Early on when you are trying to build infrastructure, your main bottlenecks are resources, science, and/or actions. Pyramids can help all 3, giving that extra action to take yellow cards or grab a key tech, not to mention giving you actions to upgrade and play cards earlier than normal. This can have a snowball effect.
#3) Pyramids gives you a competitive advantage in age 1 (and age 2) as you have 1 more CA than your opponents unless they spend valuable science on Code of Laws or Monarchy. You also have more flexibility in adopting an age 1 govt if the opportunity makes sense as you are less restricted in CAs by the new govt. You also are less pressured to strain your science/actions in Age 2 going after the age 2 govts as you are not so desperate for more CAs.
In all, it's useful but not always ideal to analyze certain aspects of TTA in terms of numbers alone. Timing and tempo are huge in this game.
If there actually is a statistically valid correlation between building Pyramids and finishing last more often (which I'm not so sure of), I would suspect it might have to do with people playing suboptimally because of the temptations to build the Pyramids earlier at the expense of infrastructure and to grab cards for more actions than they're really worth simply because players may feel flush with CA.
Yes, the Pyramids are not a gamewinner by any means, in that I agree, but I think they are far,far from a game loser. They are probably still the best Age A card despite being a bit less awesome than people may think. In the games I play it always seems that things go more easily for the player with the Pyramids, and I'm much happier when I have them than when I don't :-).
By the way, this is an outstanding blog with excellent analysis! This has been the only article I begged to differ with :-). I hope you continue with it! I'm sending links to this bog to my gaming friends.
Zenmaster,
Thanks for the feedback on both Pyramids and the blog in general. Please, spread the word (+1, Like, email to friends).
I'm glad you enjoy the blog and look forward to more comments from you in the future. The more I've examined Through The Ages, the more fascinating things I've learned about the game (and its players). Keep the comments coming!
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