Loaf Warden
(no party affiliation)
I've been thinking lately about a twist to the religion mechanic that I think could be interesting. The idea is that there would be an additional type of Belief (perhaps called an Injunctive Belief?) that you would be required to choose when first founding a religion that would actually be a disadvantage to cities that follow it. Regardless of your opinion on whether religion is a net positive or negative to humanity (and I'll thank you all to leave that discussion out of this thread), it must be admitted that no religion has been all sunshine and lollipops even for its own followers. Religion in the game is all benefit and no drawback, and I don't see any reason why there can't be an element of offset for all the advantages you get from founding your own religion. There would be a real strategic element to trying to decide which "Injunctive Belief" would hurt your strategy the least, and finding ways to work around it.
Some possible ones I've come up with:
-A Luxury Resource is chosen randomly, and civs that have adopted the religion as their majority religion no longer derive benefits from that resource. Think Jewish dietary laws (no Crabs for you!) or the Muslim prohibition on alcohol (don't touch that Wine!) as real-world examples.
-"Pacifism": There's a Happiness penalty if you're at war. The penalty is increased if you're the one that declared the war.
-On the flip side, there could be one that actually decreases your Happiness if you're not at war (inspired by the Aztecs and their constant need to appease the gods by sacrificing victims captured in combat), but that one might be too crippling in practice.
-"Month of Fasting": Every x turns, all Food production ceases for that turn.
-"Day of Rest": Ditto for Production.
-A prohibition on certain types of art ("no graven images" or "music is the work of the devil"-type attitudes) meaning a city that has adopted that religion can no longer make use of certain categories of Great Work. Say it's Great Works of Music that are banned; those cities could still have Great Works of Art or Writing, but any slots for Music would be greyed out, and any existing Works of Music would have to be moved to a city that is not of that religion, or, if no slots are available, discarded.
-It would make sense to have Beliefs that would decrease incoming Gold or Science (plenty of religions have discouraged being acquisitive or inquisitive to too great a degree), but it couldn't be by too much. The idea is to make your religion challenge you, not make the game unwinnable.
That's just a few ideas. So, would this introduce an interesting strategic element and make the game more fun? Or would it just be frustrating to deal with and make the game less fun? Did I inadvertently rip off the idea of an existing mod that I wasn't even aware of? What does everyone think?
Some possible ones I've come up with:
-A Luxury Resource is chosen randomly, and civs that have adopted the religion as their majority religion no longer derive benefits from that resource. Think Jewish dietary laws (no Crabs for you!) or the Muslim prohibition on alcohol (don't touch that Wine!) as real-world examples.
-"Pacifism": There's a Happiness penalty if you're at war. The penalty is increased if you're the one that declared the war.
-On the flip side, there could be one that actually decreases your Happiness if you're not at war (inspired by the Aztecs and their constant need to appease the gods by sacrificing victims captured in combat), but that one might be too crippling in practice.
-"Month of Fasting": Every x turns, all Food production ceases for that turn.
-"Day of Rest": Ditto for Production.
-A prohibition on certain types of art ("no graven images" or "music is the work of the devil"-type attitudes) meaning a city that has adopted that religion can no longer make use of certain categories of Great Work. Say it's Great Works of Music that are banned; those cities could still have Great Works of Art or Writing, but any slots for Music would be greyed out, and any existing Works of Music would have to be moved to a city that is not of that religion, or, if no slots are available, discarded.
-It would make sense to have Beliefs that would decrease incoming Gold or Science (plenty of religions have discouraged being acquisitive or inquisitive to too great a degree), but it couldn't be by too much. The idea is to make your religion challenge you, not make the game unwinnable.
That's just a few ideas. So, would this introduce an interesting strategic element and make the game more fun? Or would it just be frustrating to deal with and make the game less fun? Did I inadvertently rip off the idea of an existing mod that I wasn't even aware of? What does everyone think?
