Benefits of One Religion Vs Another?

Each religion seems to generate the same culture amounts... what is the benefit of one over another? Do their temples, etc work differently?

No. Each religion is no different to another. However, the more religions you have the more temples, etc you can build, in turn giving you more culture and gold if you have the shrine(s).

jsurpless said:

Each religion seems to generate the same culture amounts... what is the benefit of one over another? Do their temples, etc work differently?

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I think they all work pretty much the same way functionally as far as happiness and culture are concerned.

One thing one might have over the other is where they are located on the tech-tree.

Confucianism is a common player religion because it's in line with the CS slingshot.

I don't know that a particular religion is better over the other. However there can be strategic reasoning why you would go with one over the other one, such as getting buddism and affecting how it spreads earlier on in the world scene.

Also to consider, not that the religion is the reason for hitting up code of laws or theocracy, for example, but the civics and buildings found within. Tacking on the religion just makes all the sweeter

Different religions spread at differant rates, too.

Markus5 said:

Different religions spread at differant rates, too.

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...because religions only spread spontaneously to cities that currently lack religion, thus later religions are less likely to spread as much..

--kmm.

Early religions get better chances of spreading widely; I've often found the world to be split between Buddhism and Hinduism with maybe a dash of other religions; sometimes Judaism gets a foothold, but I've never seen this happen with the other religions. Possibly this is because I can't play on huge maps with lots of rival civs. Otherwise, the only difference between the religions is the resource giving a bonus to "cathedral" production.

If you pick the right religion, you and your followers will be rewarded with eternal paradise. Choose carefully...

Nah, I'm jokin', the only difference between any religion in Civ is:
-The Technology required for its research
-The Resource for its Great-Temples
-Whether or not you get a missionary

Confucianism is rather popular because it is the easiest free-missionary religion to get, and it comes with a tech that's darned useful in its own right. Confucianism can often be gotten before the calender turns to 1AD, and so won't be too terribly far behind the other religions.

I thought ALL religions came with a free missionary when first founded?

King Monkeyman said:

...because religions only spread spontaneously to cities that currently lack religion, thus later religions are less likely to spread as much..

--kmm.

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While that's true, I don't think it's what he meant. It always seems to me that in the late game most new cities end up becoming Islam.

I thought ALL religions came with a free missionary when first founded?

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No, only the later 4 start with a free missionary. Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism don't. It's about the only significant difference between the religions.

Alraun said:

While that's true, I don't think it's what he meant. It always seems to me that in the late game most new cities end up becoming Islam.

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I believe that each religion has a "surge" of spreading shortly after it has been founded. Not sure, but I've observed this phenomenon too.

they all spread exactly the same. i don't know how it chooses which one will spread to a new city, but they all have a "spread factor" of 100 in the xml.

Hans Lemurson said:

I believe that each religion has a "surge" of spreading shortly after it has been founded. Not sure, but I've observed this phenomenon too.

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I think the initial late-game Islam surge is for two reasons:

1. There are more cities.
2. There is a greater # of travel networks/infrastructure to carry it.

I think there is some type of "surge" when a religion is new. The true dynamics of religion spreading seems to be one of the still "darker" regions of Civ-understanding.

Unfortinately Religion is reduced to a political tool more than anything else as far as which your state religion is

^ Mostly I agree - although your State religion should be widespread if you're using Organised Religion, Theocracy, or Pacifism to good advantage.

One small point of note to chime in with is that 'Cathedrals' have different build rates contingent upon whether you have access to Copper (Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist), Marble (Hindu, Islamic), and/or Stone (Christian, Jewish).

Cam_H said:

^ Mostly I agree - although your State religion should be widespread if you're using Organised Religion, Theocracy, or Pacifism to good advantage.

One small point of note to chime in with is that 'Cathedrals' have different build rates contingent upon whether you have access to Copper (Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist), Marble (Hindu, Islamic), and/or Stone (Christian, Jewish).

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My (insert spiritual figurehead of choice) I don't think that is the the manual, or in an active thread. What else are you holding back from the, I'm guessing searched, deprived masses?

Actually isnt there another difference, in happiness? IIRC some religious buildings may make one resource make people happy in that city, another will do something else with another resource.

No, they're all 2 happy, plus 1 more happy with Incense.

Baru,

I'm not sure what you mean by "I don't think that is the the manual";

Build bonuses for 'Cathedrals' affected by select strategic resources

On my second point being "One small point of note to chime in with..."

If it's that you didn't think the bonus for build rates in constructing 'Cathedrals' was in the manual contingent upon the availability of a strategic resource (Marble, Stone, Copper), it's on pages 187-190.

If you're saying that the Strategies and Tips Forum is not the Manual - that is, that you don't think it's valuable to have the Manual spelled out in this Forum, then fair enough. I guess I'm making the point that for some tribes with access to limited strategic resources, that they will benefit more from some religions more so than others thanks to quicker builds of 'Cathedrals' (Mandirs, Cathedrals, Pagodas, Synagogues, Mosques, Stupas, Acadamies).

Religion as a mechanism to fracture passive relations

As CF4L notes, "Unfortinately Religion is reduced to a political tool more than anything else as far as which your state religion is"

I tend to agree. Sulla made the point way back when Civ IV first appeared that religious differences would help the AI tribes antagonise each other. As a player, as you progress to increasingly higher levels of difficulty, the question of switching to a non-preferred State religion to simply act as a political safeguard becomes an increasing pressure.