So since I started Civ 5 Religions I've always been obsessed with getting the Religious Buildings; Pagoda's, Mosques, Monasteries, Cathedrals but especially Pagoda's - the 2 happiness, faith & Culture feels like a free Colosseum, Monument and Temple....
Usually the reasons to choose Pagoda's is that the 2 faith, culture & happiness is superior to any other follower belief. But on thinking about this more I wonder if it is really as good as we assume it is.
Typically to get you're 2 religious buildings, you need to get 2 Prophets and then you're in a rush to get as many buildings down before you reach the Renaissance era when faith costs increase 50%. There is already a risk here in that spending all your faith on buildings another religion can crowd you out.
Regarding the faith from religious buildings, for example a Pagoda costs 200 faith for 2 faith, culture and happiness. Now lets say I decide to ignore faith buildings then I'm not going to miss the 2 faith, as currently it takes 100 turns for that Pagoda to return its investment or 150 turns in the renaissance.
So that leaves just 2 culture and 2 happiness. But I can get 2 happiness and 2 culture from Religious Centre and Choral Music and that means I can then use all my faith on missionaries or a 3rd prophet to quickly convert other cities. If I pick a founder like Ceremonial Burial then arguably I may not even need Religious Centre for 2 happiness and I can pick something else like Religious Community for 15% production bonus. So there is plenty of flexibility here.
Then there is also the option of taking the Pantheon 'Goddess of Love' which gives me 1 happiness per city (another option with Religious Community & Choral Music).
I'm starting to think that maybe the Religious Buildings aren't necessarily as good as I think we hype them up to be. Chances are that Religious Centre and Choral Music will be in effect for your cities well before you can get Pagoda's in all of them assuming you can get Temple's up.
And there is also the fact that you can pick 2 religious buildings convert an AI, who gets your buildings, then gets their own or another religion and you lose your founder benefit from them and you've essentially given them free culture/happiness and faith. So without religious buildings another Civ is only getting to benefit from your religion so long as they keep it.
Has anyone else come to this conclusion?
Usually the reasons to choose Pagoda's is that the 2 faith, culture & happiness is superior to any other follower belief. But on thinking about this more I wonder if it is really as good as we assume it is.
Typically to get you're 2 religious buildings, you need to get 2 Prophets and then you're in a rush to get as many buildings down before you reach the Renaissance era when faith costs increase 50%. There is already a risk here in that spending all your faith on buildings another religion can crowd you out.
Regarding the faith from religious buildings, for example a Pagoda costs 200 faith for 2 faith, culture and happiness. Now lets say I decide to ignore faith buildings then I'm not going to miss the 2 faith, as currently it takes 100 turns for that Pagoda to return its investment or 150 turns in the renaissance.
So that leaves just 2 culture and 2 happiness. But I can get 2 happiness and 2 culture from Religious Centre and Choral Music and that means I can then use all my faith on missionaries or a 3rd prophet to quickly convert other cities. If I pick a founder like Ceremonial Burial then arguably I may not even need Religious Centre for 2 happiness and I can pick something else like Religious Community for 15% production bonus. So there is plenty of flexibility here.
Then there is also the option of taking the Pantheon 'Goddess of Love' which gives me 1 happiness per city (another option with Religious Community & Choral Music).
I'm starting to think that maybe the Religious Buildings aren't necessarily as good as I think we hype them up to be. Chances are that Religious Centre and Choral Music will be in effect for your cities well before you can get Pagoda's in all of them assuming you can get Temple's up.
And there is also the fact that you can pick 2 religious buildings convert an AI, who gets your buildings, then gets their own or another religion and you lose your founder benefit from them and you've essentially given them free culture/happiness and faith. So without religious buildings another Civ is only getting to benefit from your religion so long as they keep it.
Has anyone else come to this conclusion?