Christian Schisms?

Reedstilt

Prince
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May 8, 2013
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I was surprised to see in my first BNW game that 'Catholicism' was the first religion founded. I was excited to see what other new religions were added, but waited until I could pick up own religion to look at the option. I have to say I was disappointed to see that the only difference was that Christianity had been broken up into Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestantism.

Does anyone know why this change was made? Why split Christianity this way, but not have Sunni, Shia, and Sunni for Islam or Theravada, Mahāyāna, or Vajrayāna for Buddhism?
 
It mostly had to do with the civs in the game and the religions they'd choose.
Many civs had "Christianity" as pre-programmed favourite religion. This would make Christianity occur a lot in the games you'd play.
To counter this they've split up Christianity, so there's more variation in the game.
 
This and in addition the Game is a western product and I guess most customers are from the western hemisphere (where Christianity is most popular by far).
 
I was surprised to see in my first BNW game that 'Catholicism' was the first religion founded. I was excited to see what other new religions were added, but waited until I could pick up own religion to look at the option. I have to say I was disappointed to see that the only difference was that Christianity had been broken up into Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestantism.

Does anyone know why this change was made? Why split Christianity this way, but not have Sunni, Shia, and Sunni for Islam or Theravada, Mahāyāna, or Vajrayāna for Buddhism?

Umm. Maybe because Christianity is preferred religion for all European, American, Native American + Polynesia and Ethiopia (and maybe Zulu too) civilization in G&K which mean they would be 27 from 43 civ chooses the Christianity first and then alphabetically if the dev continues the same trend in BNW.

While Buddhism is preferred by Siam only , While Islam is preferred by Ottoman, Arabia, Songhai and Morocco. The rest of religions have a or two civ which prefer it. But even Christianity is "schism-ed", each of it still have about 8 of civ whose preferred.

In short, It's for gameplay balance, not historical, and you probably don't get the point if you are thinking that dev team is ignorant bunch of guys which have abysmal knowledge of history. I KNOWS YOU THOUGHT THAT.

The point is "Gameplay rules over the history"
(Oh, You expect precise historical accuracy on a game which Washington is settled in 4000 BC?)
 
It mostly had to do with the civs in the game and the religions they'd choose.
Many civs had "Christianity" as pre-programmed favourite religion. This would make Christianity occur a lot in the games you'd play.
To counter this they've split up Christianity, so there's more variation in the game.

Pretty much this. In addition, they already had the logos to split it up based on the G&K scenarios so it took minimal effort.
 
I still wish they would have added a Native American religion or two (I mean they added the obscure religion that the Huns and Mongols used)

It's just so awkward sailing to the New World to be preached by Montezuma about the Messiah.

Though I'm sure the religion mod that I used in G&K will be updated shortly :)
 
Can't complain about diversity, can you? Some change is better than no change.
 
I'm just kind of disappointed that Catholicism didn't get an actual crucifix for its symbol. As a (Roman) Catholic myself, it's the first thing I look for to distinguish a Catholic Christian from (particularly) a Protestant Christian.
 
Add laziness to the mix. They said they did because the artwork was ready from one of the scenarios too.
 
And the Turkic peoples ;) (the colours and symbols in the Turkish flag come from that "obscure religion")

I talking in-game and from a general audience perspective, not history buffs. And besides the only Turks in the game are the Ottoman Empire and they prefer Islam :mischief:
 
I'm just kind of disappointed that Catholicism didn't get an actual crucifix for its symbol. As a (Roman) Catholic myself, it's the first thing I look for to distinguish a Catholic Christian from (particularly) a Protestant Christian.
You mean one depicted with the body of Christ depicted? Would be hard to scale down to the smaller sizes the icons need, really.
 
I still wish they would have added a Native American religion or two (I mean they added the obscure religion that the Huns and Mongols used)

It's just so awkward sailing to the New World to be preached by Montezuma about the Messiah.

Though I'm sure the religion mod that I used in G&K will be updated shortly :)

Personally, I just picked the Tengriism icon and renamed it "Ghost Dance" while playing as Pocatello.
 
You mean one depicted with the body of Christ depicted? Would be hard to scale down to the smaller sizes the icons need, really.

Uh, yes, that is what a crucifix is. :) And yes, I know it'd be a harder sell, but really, would it be any more detailed than the Zoroastrianism symbol? ;)

Maybe something more like the Maltese Cross, or is that what the current symbol is trying to evoke?
 
Speaking of islam, I don't believe there are any civs in the game that are shia.

The only civ that could have had Shia as a preferred religion is Persia and it’s already Zoroastrianism.
 
I still wish they would have added a Native American religion or two (I mean they added the obscure religion that the Huns and Mongols used)

It's just so awkward sailing to the New World to be preached by Montezuma about the Messiah.

Though I'm sure the religion mod that I used in G&K will be updated shortly :)

Why on Earth would they choose a singular native american religion out of the multitude of religions worldwide? In particular, how would they pick one, when there were so many? It would be in no way fair to pick one ahead of the others in such as situation, particularly when there are a multitude of larger religions that could be used instead.

As for "obscure religion that the Huns and Mongols used", Tengriism was a major contributor in the largest contiguous empire that ever existed. At it's height it was likely followed by a greater number of people than there were in the Americas in the pre columbian era. Your ignorance of the religion does not make it obscure.
 
Speaking of islam, I don't believe there are any civs in the game that are shia.

Persia and maybe Egypt, both depending on the time period, but yeah. For the most part Sunni.

Edit: But of course, no one would be Zoro if not for Persia, so diversity still wins out.
 
Uh, yes, that is what a crucifix is. :) And yes, I know it'd be a harder sell, but really, would it be any more detailed than the Zoroastrianism symbol? ;)

Maybe something more like the Maltese Cross, or is that what the current symbol is trying to evoke?

Why would the Cross with the body of Christ be considered a Catholic only symbol?
 
I'd be cool if they added more branches of existing faiths, though. That'd be neat.

Heck, for all I care, obscure, lost religions are welcome- who says that in this timeline, Catharism didn't take off? And so on.
 
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