Great Buddha
Great Buddha is a Japanese Wonder that advances the civilization and sends Naginata Riders together with an Orchard Rickshaw. Its reward adds cavalry and a mobile Orchard-related builder to the new Age.
Recorded values
- Available
- Exploration Age; Commerce Age; Fortress Age; Industrial Age
- Builder
- Asian Villager and its counterparts
- Function
- Advances the player into the next Age; Ships Naginata Riders and Orchard Rickshaw when built
- Construction
- up to 8 builders · limit 1
- Structure
- 5,000 hit points · 12 line of sight · 6x4 footprint
Function & construction
The completion reward provides the listed units; the Naginata Riders add mounted pressure, while the Orchard Rickshaw supports Japanese building access. The Wonder’s value therefore depends on both the army need and the use you have for the wagon.
Placement & timing
Choose it when mobile cavalry and an Orchard Rickshaw fit the next phase. Keep the Riders with support against anti-cavalry units and send the Rickshaw to a safe, useful site.
Age advancement and version-specific scouting
The Great Buddha is a Japanese Wonder selected when advancing to the next Age. Its completion sends Naginata Riders and, in the Definitive Edition, one Orchard Rickshaw with every Age advance. The mounted reinforcements can add immediate mobility to a push, while the Rickshaw creates a mobile way to establish an Orchard-related economic building; plan a safe destination for the wagon before the Wonder finishes. The Informers ability has a version difference: it lasts 10 seconds in The Asian Dynasties and 20 seconds in Definitive Edition. That temporary reconnaissance window can reveal enemy positions or expose a route, so use it immediately to answer a concrete question—such as where to send the new cavalry or which approach is undefended—rather than activating it after the army has already moved. The Great Buddha is one of four Age-up Wonder choices and its 5,000 hit points make it a significant structure to protect while it is being built. The Wonder itself is not a permanent substitute for map vision: coordinate its scouting window with the Explorer and other units, then keep the Naginata Riders screened against anti-cavalry troops. Choose it when the reinforcement package and information effect support the next phase, not solely for the statue’s appearance.
Timing its reconnaissance window
Use Informers during the transition rather than treating it as passive vision: the 10-second The Asian Dynasties effect was doubled to 20 seconds in Definitive Edition. The longer window gives a Japanese player more time to inspect a forward route while the Age-up package arrives.
Age-up costs, timing and Japanese shipments
The Great Buddha is a Japanese Wonder and one of the civilization’s age-up choices. Its recorded sequence costs 800 Food for the Commerce Age, 1,200 Food and 1,000 Coin for the Fortress Age, 2,000 Food and 1,200 Coin for the Industrial Age, and 4,000 Food plus 4,000 Coin for the Imperial Age. Construction takes 120 seconds for the first, third and fourth transitions, and 145 seconds for the second; up to eight builders can work on it. Completing it also ships Naginata Riders and an Orchard Rickshaw, so the age-up includes immediate military and economic support. Those units do not remove the need to select a follow-up plan: position the cavalry with the army and place the Grove where its Wood can be gathered safely. The Wonder is a one-per-player structure with 5,000 hit points, so choose a build site that can be defended during its long construction.