stachnie
Theorist
Playing with multiple religions may be risky but if you handle it well, it may be very profitable. Here is my recipe.
Before starting. Choose a Spiritual leader or Developing Leaders and at some point pick Spiritual (no Anarchy when switching religions). Choose "Pure traits" (you do not want an extra unhappiness for each religion different from the state religion). I also pick "No negative traits". "No positive traits" (each leader starts with no traits but the first choices come earlier), "Divine Prophets" (if you discover a Religion tech as the first one, a Great Prophet appears in your capital; Great Prophets may spread any known religion in any of your cities) and "Focused traits". To make it work the best, do not choose "Religious disabling".
Plan your research carefully. Usually I beeline to some Hunting techs (at least to be able to upgrade Great Hunters into super-hunter units) and then to Druidism and Shamanism. In most cases I can get them first even at Immortal (Eternity game speed). If you manage to do that and your GNP is about 50% greater than for the best rival (early hunting is crucial!), probably you will be tech leader until the end of the game and you may discover all religions.
When you get Druidism, try to get its building (I forgot its name) quite soon. It is very expensive at this time but it allows to convert your first free Specialist into Priest. The second building is a bit cheaper and allows to convert your second free Specialist to Priest. If you fail to do that before Shamanism, you may consider to use your Great Prophet to found a Shrine instead of discovering Shamanism - your third GP may do it as well and a Shrine allows to convert 3 Specialists to Priests and increases your GP rate by itself.
Please remember to build Famen Temple when it is available (all Missionaries have Morale promotion and 100% success rate).
I may divide Religions into three groups:
1. You need to convert to them early to get full benefits.
2. You may convert to them at any time.
3. You do not need to convert to them at all.
Most religions are in group 1. These religions have some Great Wonders and if you do not build them early enough, the AI's will do it instead of you or the Wonders may expire. Be careful, especially if you do not have contact with all civs. Even if you are the leader and adopt a religion denial strategy, some civs get some religions as soon as they were discovered (like Celts with Druidism, some Native American civs with Shamanism etc.). In my present game Hitites got Kemetism and built one of the wonders (the one with free Schools of Scribes) just before I was ready to convert.
What I remember:
- Mesopotamism: IIRC after Dualism you may build Nimrud Palace (some military benefits, build in your main military city, lower maintenance costs) and Hammurabi Steele of Laws (free Courthouse in each your city). With Aesthetics and enough Glassmiths you may build Ishtar Gate - two extra Espionage Points for each building of your current State Religion. Apart from these wonders, it has also some non-Wonder buildings. One of them (level 1) does not require SR, four level 2 buildings require SR. They are expensive but they give an extra Great Prophet point and a free promotion to certain units (Assistance of ...). Apart from them, there are some minor buildings boosting growth (depending on local agricultural resources).
- Zaratustrianism: 4 very nice Great Wonders: two of them may be built anywhere, two of them in your main military city. Military ones (one of them is Seti Pir available with Feudalism, the other one is IIRC Apadana Palace available with Sanitation) give: free Morale promoton, -50% upgrade cost (combine it with The Art of War and you will get free upgrades), extra Capital and a free Order of Ormazd promotion (+15% to City Attack and Defense).
- Naghualism: a mixed bag but IIRC one of the Wonders starts a Golden Age (most or all of them expire with Humanism), the Shrine gives a free Specialist for each Quarry.
- Christianity: King Richard's Crusade produces Crusaders. The other ones give economic and research benefits.
- Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism: GW's boosting research, gold, growth and GP rate etc.; Confucian Shrine gives free Morale promotion.
- Kemetism: a GW that gives free Schools of Scribes, another one with +10% research in all cities, three National Wonders boosting military production, growth rate and culture, access to unique military units.
- Hellenism, Judaism, Shinto, Andeanism, Islam: a mixed bag of military, economic, scientific and cultural bonuses. Hellenic Monasteries give free Pankration promotion (IIRC +5% Strength, -20% upgrade cost). Shinto Cathedrals give free Honour promotion (-25% upgrade cost, maybe also something else).
- Asartu: +1 Population in all cities, free Altars of Thor... (most or all of them expire with Humanism).
- Voodoo: IIRC one GW which reduces unhappiness after whip.
Group 2. I remember Druidism, Shamanism, Tengri, Yoruba and Ngaii.
Druidism and Shamanism are very similar: two first buildings (level 1 and 2) buildable even if not State Religion. some extra buildings giving extra food with Agricultural resources in city radius (Druidism) or Hunting ones/Herds (Shamanism). When your convert to them, more extra food buildings are available. What is even more important, for certain number of level 2 buildings (Large maps: 3, Huge maps: 4) you may build one level 3 building. They are very expensive but they eliminate Pollution from buildings, give some boost to Culture (IIRC 25%) and a free Guerilla 1 promotion. With enough level 3, you may build level 4: even more expensive, another boost to Culture, +10% GP rate, free Woodsman 1.
At Large maps it means that you may have e.g. 27 cities with lvl 2, 9 cities with lvl 3 and 3 cities with lvl 4. If you combine both religions, up to 2/3 of your cities (in this case: 18) may have no pollution from buildings.
Tengri: benefits to Culture, free promotions for Horse units. Edit: also Ger - a few extra XP for horse units and Tengri Horse Trainer - benefits of Horse Trainer and +1 Culture without Horses in city radius or Herd-Horse, just requires access to Horses.
Ngaii: free Venegance promotion, some other benefits.
Yoruba: IIRC +10% GP rate, some other benefits.
Group 3: I am sure about Kanaanism, Rodnovera and Janism, perhaps also Sikhism, Mormonism and Scientology. You do not need to convert to them at all - the buildings are available anyway. Some of them may have drawbacks, e.g. some Rodnovera and Janism buildings give +10% gold but -10% military production.
S.
Before starting. Choose a Spiritual leader or Developing Leaders and at some point pick Spiritual (no Anarchy when switching religions). Choose "Pure traits" (you do not want an extra unhappiness for each religion different from the state religion). I also pick "No negative traits". "No positive traits" (each leader starts with no traits but the first choices come earlier), "Divine Prophets" (if you discover a Religion tech as the first one, a Great Prophet appears in your capital; Great Prophets may spread any known religion in any of your cities) and "Focused traits". To make it work the best, do not choose "Religious disabling".
Plan your research carefully. Usually I beeline to some Hunting techs (at least to be able to upgrade Great Hunters into super-hunter units) and then to Druidism and Shamanism. In most cases I can get them first even at Immortal (Eternity game speed). If you manage to do that and your GNP is about 50% greater than for the best rival (early hunting is crucial!), probably you will be tech leader until the end of the game and you may discover all religions.
When you get Druidism, try to get its building (I forgot its name) quite soon. It is very expensive at this time but it allows to convert your first free Specialist into Priest. The second building is a bit cheaper and allows to convert your second free Specialist to Priest. If you fail to do that before Shamanism, you may consider to use your Great Prophet to found a Shrine instead of discovering Shamanism - your third GP may do it as well and a Shrine allows to convert 3 Specialists to Priests and increases your GP rate by itself.
Please remember to build Famen Temple when it is available (all Missionaries have Morale promotion and 100% success rate).
I may divide Religions into three groups:
1. You need to convert to them early to get full benefits.
2. You may convert to them at any time.
3. You do not need to convert to them at all.
Most religions are in group 1. These religions have some Great Wonders and if you do not build them early enough, the AI's will do it instead of you or the Wonders may expire. Be careful, especially if you do not have contact with all civs. Even if you are the leader and adopt a religion denial strategy, some civs get some religions as soon as they were discovered (like Celts with Druidism, some Native American civs with Shamanism etc.). In my present game Hitites got Kemetism and built one of the wonders (the one with free Schools of Scribes) just before I was ready to convert.
What I remember:
- Mesopotamism: IIRC after Dualism you may build Nimrud Palace (some military benefits, build in your main military city, lower maintenance costs) and Hammurabi Steele of Laws (free Courthouse in each your city). With Aesthetics and enough Glassmiths you may build Ishtar Gate - two extra Espionage Points for each building of your current State Religion. Apart from these wonders, it has also some non-Wonder buildings. One of them (level 1) does not require SR, four level 2 buildings require SR. They are expensive but they give an extra Great Prophet point and a free promotion to certain units (Assistance of ...). Apart from them, there are some minor buildings boosting growth (depending on local agricultural resources).
- Zaratustrianism: 4 very nice Great Wonders: two of them may be built anywhere, two of them in your main military city. Military ones (one of them is Seti Pir available with Feudalism, the other one is IIRC Apadana Palace available with Sanitation) give: free Morale promoton, -50% upgrade cost (combine it with The Art of War and you will get free upgrades), extra Capital and a free Order of Ormazd promotion (+15% to City Attack and Defense).
- Naghualism: a mixed bag but IIRC one of the Wonders starts a Golden Age (most or all of them expire with Humanism), the Shrine gives a free Specialist for each Quarry.
- Christianity: King Richard's Crusade produces Crusaders. The other ones give economic and research benefits.
- Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism: GW's boosting research, gold, growth and GP rate etc.; Confucian Shrine gives free Morale promotion.
- Kemetism: a GW that gives free Schools of Scribes, another one with +10% research in all cities, three National Wonders boosting military production, growth rate and culture, access to unique military units.
- Hellenism, Judaism, Shinto, Andeanism, Islam: a mixed bag of military, economic, scientific and cultural bonuses. Hellenic Monasteries give free Pankration promotion (IIRC +5% Strength, -20% upgrade cost). Shinto Cathedrals give free Honour promotion (-25% upgrade cost, maybe also something else).
- Asartu: +1 Population in all cities, free Altars of Thor... (most or all of them expire with Humanism).
- Voodoo: IIRC one GW which reduces unhappiness after whip.
Group 2. I remember Druidism, Shamanism, Tengri, Yoruba and Ngaii.
Druidism and Shamanism are very similar: two first buildings (level 1 and 2) buildable even if not State Religion. some extra buildings giving extra food with Agricultural resources in city radius (Druidism) or Hunting ones/Herds (Shamanism). When your convert to them, more extra food buildings are available. What is even more important, for certain number of level 2 buildings (Large maps: 3, Huge maps: 4) you may build one level 3 building. They are very expensive but they eliminate Pollution from buildings, give some boost to Culture (IIRC 25%) and a free Guerilla 1 promotion. With enough level 3, you may build level 4: even more expensive, another boost to Culture, +10% GP rate, free Woodsman 1.
At Large maps it means that you may have e.g. 27 cities with lvl 2, 9 cities with lvl 3 and 3 cities with lvl 4. If you combine both religions, up to 2/3 of your cities (in this case: 18) may have no pollution from buildings.
Tengri: benefits to Culture, free promotions for Horse units. Edit: also Ger - a few extra XP for horse units and Tengri Horse Trainer - benefits of Horse Trainer and +1 Culture without Horses in city radius or Herd-Horse, just requires access to Horses.
Ngaii: free Venegance promotion, some other benefits.
Yoruba: IIRC +10% GP rate, some other benefits.
Group 3: I am sure about Kanaanism, Rodnovera and Janism, perhaps also Sikhism, Mormonism and Scientology. You do not need to convert to them at all - the buildings are available anyway. Some of them may have drawbacks, e.g. some Rodnovera and Janism buildings give +10% gold but -10% military production.
S.
