The new Olympia feels weak

[petercordia]

7 Wonders has updated recently, and for the most part I like the changes.
For example I love the concept of the new Babylon, removing the first stage of side B (( 3 points // build 7th card // science --> build 7th card // science ))

However the new Olympia feels weak. It was (( 2-sided trading post // 5 points // guild copy )), and now it is (( 2 points + first card in each age is free // 3 points + last card in each age is free // 5 points + nothing )).
The 1st wonder stage feels worth it (ie situationaly worth >3 points), the 2nd wonder stage is almost never worth more than 5 points, and the last wonder stage is worth strictly less than both Halicarnassus and Giza. It is the worst stage 3 wonder in the game. The only contender for that spot would be the old Olympia 3 effect, which was sometimes worth 0 pionts.

If I'm missing the strategy to make use of Olympia B, and it's actually pretty good, please tell me what it is
Otherwise, is it conceivable the wonder will be changed?

[Wonderful Plays]

Wonder won't be changed. I suggest you look into Olympia A kinda like Ephesos A - the 2nd stage will save you gold and let's you not care about some resources at all.

Olympia B try playing with just the 1st stage. It is arguably the strongest 1st stage in the game, the rest feels weak, but you can just try to do other stuff.

[dschingis27]

I suspect that Olympia B will be the ideal wonder for a blue cards strategy. Science could also work well. If you get first and last card of each age for free, in between you can try to chain blue or green cards. To make good use of the wonder stages, you have to renounce resource cards at some point. So while opponents concentrate to build their production you can already get nice points and ahead of the crowd.

But obviously Olympia is a higher variance wonder, its value depends a lot on the exact cards you get in first and last round of age 2 and age 3. Kind of like with Babylon, you can get amazing last 2 cards or you can get nothing.

[dschingis27]

I played more games and it just so happened that I got Olympia in about 40% of my games. The more I play it, the more I have to agree with the OP that it feels very weak (both A and B side). The problem is that in the turns when you want to make use of your wonder ability you will often (have to) pick cards that you can afford already. The proportion of times when you really feel happy about your "free card" abilities is quite low. The old 2nd stage ability of A side felt much more powerful because you could choose any card at any time.

I can feel that Olympia will be the new Babylon, the most unpopular wonder.

[Waterd103]

I do agree it's extremly weak, weaker than any previous wonder. And alexandria is not that far behind.

[pliskin64]

I agree with common opinions, Olimpia is a pain to play, I have tried any strategy but most of the times I am happy when I get 3th place. Only A side give you some probability to win a game, side B is totally unuseful, something has to be changed.

[Wonderful Plays]

The more I play the stronger A side feels in 4P games. I would argue it is at least top4, propably top3 maybe even 2nd best.
Night side feels weaker, but it has it upsides.
It is also very strong in higher player counts.

[pliskin64]

An improvement should be change the property of the first and the second stage of Side B: the first stage gives you the last card of each era for free (this way it's possible to get it from the first era, the only in which it's possible to get a good card as last) and the second the first. This way a player would try to build the first two stages as soon as possible. As it is now Olimpia cant compete with any other wonders for a victory.

[Wonderful Plays]

An improvement should be change the property of the first and the second stage of Side B: the first stage gives you the last card of each era for free (this way it's possible to get it from the first era, the only in which it's possible to get a good card as last) and the second the first. This way a player would try to build the first two stages as soon as possible. As it is now Olimpia cant compete with any other wonders for a victory.

This would make it weaker. Rushing wonder stages never have been good for any consistent strategy.
Olympia is perfectly fine. The only wonder I can agree could need some help in the base game is Alexandria.

[Tadachini]

An improvement should be change the property of the first and the second stage of Side B: the first stage gives you the last card of each era for free (this way it's possible to get it from the first era, the only in which it's possible to get a good card as last) and the second the first. This way a player would try to build the first two stages as soon as possible. As it is now Olimpia cant compete with any other wonders for a victory.

Why would you need a free build in the 1st era? 90% of cards have no cost there at all. Would not make any sense to have it as step 1 tbh. Actually almost the same for age 2, most of the cards are quire affordable in most games. You would need to actively deny resources to exploit that efficiently.