I understand that the council of esus is spread by units that follow that religion, but it just does not seem to work for me.

I have units that were built in council cities and show "Religion: Council of Esus" in their Unit description, however there does not seem to be an option to spread the religion to other cities.

Is there supposed to be a button for this like with missionaries, or is that a special function?

Any hints appreciated.

Thanks!

Haven't tried, but I assume they are in a city with no Council of Esus, and it's your state religion?

Haven't tried, but I assume they are in a city with no Council of Esus, and it's your state religion?

Ah, thank you - it works when I make the council my state religion. I wonder why this is, shouldnt the units be able to spread it anyway?

That's because the Spread Esus skill isn't a normal ability like the regular disciples have.
Instead it's classified as a spell so that ordinary units can use it, and having the Council as your state religion is one of the prerequisites.

OK, I understand, thank you.

So how does a council player get priests? Or are there other means to cast divine spells? Sorry, looks like I'm missing something...

In my first game, as the Sidar, I was spreading Esus using the Nightwatch and then later with, Asassins and such. When they enter a city, a button that appears... something along the lines of: pay 25 gold to spread the Council of Esus to this city. Dirt cheap. :) Especially fun when you load the nightwatch into the Trojan Horse and convert people from inside the horse. ;)

OK, I understand, thank you.

So how does a council player get priests? Or are there other means to cast divine spells? Sorry, looks like I'm missing something...
CoE has no priests or divine casters, but having it as your state religion does power up your Recon units somewhat with basic magic to make them extra sneaky.

CoE has no priests or divine casters, but having it as your state religion does power up your Recon units somewhat with basic magic to make them extra sneaky.

OK - so no way I can cast higher lvl divine stuff if I play esus? Switching to another religion is the only option?

Thanks for helping guys!

Yeah unless you have a hero with the Divine promotion you can't cast any divine spells, kinda a shame because they're usually some of the best spells. The shadow sphere itself hasn't got any divine spells.

So how do you spread esus to one of your cities so you convert to it, if you didn't found it?

wait for it to spread to you

wait for it to spread to you

So in multiplayer, the player with esus gets a major advantange...

well it can spread naturally

it really needs to let you spread it to yourself even if you don't research the tech first.

well it can spread naturally

Anyone know what the formula for spreading naturally.

The building helps, anything else? Does having trade connection or open borders improve the chance of being infected with a religion (Other than making it easier for missionaries)? I've looked but can't find any information.

I think it would work nicely if it required the Undercouncil Membership Civic instead of the state religion. It wouldn't seem right if good civs started spreading the Council of Esus willfully, but there should be some way to adopt it without founding it or waiting a humdred turns for its natural spread.

Anyone know what the formula for spreading naturally.

The building helps, anything else? Does having trade connection or open borders improve the chance of being infected with a religion (Other than making it easier for missionaries)? I've looked but can't find any information.

Trade conncection is vital, meaning rivers, coasts with sailing, roads, or oceans with astronomy, and at least one city in a trade network with the religion needs have open borders.

Anyone know what the formula for spreading naturally.

The building helps, anything else? Does having trade connection or open borders improve the chance of being infected with a religion (Other than making it easier for missionaries)? I've looked but can't find any information.
It looks to me like you need a connection to the holy city. Any connection work, road, river, etc. Open borders doesn't appear to have any influence but you can't be at war with the civ.
Also, the closer to the holy city the city is the better.

Having OB does help, like all other things you mentioned.

So in multiplayer, the player with esus gets a major advantange...

why ?

Having OB does help, like all other things you mentioned.

why ?

Once they found it, they get the benefits of Esus (special unit, etc). All the other religions in FFH can be spread to yourself when you research the appropriate technology. Esus cannot. So if I'm Svarfs and I dont' get deception before a MP opponent, and I was beelining to it, I'm relatively screwed since i wasted all those beakers and now have to wait until it spreads naturally (if it gets to me at all).

Having no priest units is bad both because of the lack of divine spells and also the complete lack of healing. If you go Esus, you have nothing (other than druids) who can speed the healing of your units. Playing AV and not being able to cure disease was bad enough, but now I can't cure disease (without AqSuc or the Pool) and I can't even speed the healing of normal wear and tear on my units. Has anyone found a way around this? If I found RoK for example and get the Thane, can he upgrade while I am Esus or do I need to change religions too?

Thinking more, it seems like there is a benefit to founding and having the Esus religion in your cities, but not really too much of a benefit to following that religion. No temples, no secondary buildings, the UU are also on the far end of the tech tree, so their usefulness (and it seems the ability to actively spread the religion) is limited to late game. What am I missing?

Well, any unit with the esus religion on it can spread it (if you are converted to it), not just nightwatch, afaik. But I agree that it doesn't seem to have enough positives to counteract the positives of the other religions.