ratrangerm
Prince
Just a couple of things I'll add, and I'll admit I skimmed many posts as I'm doing this at work (shhh... don't tell anyone!) and need to head out soon for an appointment.
1. If you are intent on grabbing one of the earliest techs for religion, take Polytheism. That will at least get you on track to Monotheism if somebody gets to Poly before you do.
2. I agree with the strategy of taking Theology from Oracle. Oracle should be a priority wonder for its Great Prophets.
3. When you do spread your religions, be careful about doing it to a civ that doesn't have a religion yet. Ideally, you will want to spread it first to a civ that didn't found a religion, but already has one in its borders. It may not be entirely possible to do that, but if you can strategize how you spread religion to your opponents, you can leverage your position with the AP. Certainly, having somebody be your friend because of shared religion is a good thing, but if this friend of yours is chummy with people who don't like you (and the way the AI works, it's more frequent for AI civs to like each other than for AI civs to like you personally), that friend of yours could end up preventing you from taking victory via the AP.
1. If you are intent on grabbing one of the earliest techs for religion, take Polytheism. That will at least get you on track to Monotheism if somebody gets to Poly before you do.
2. I agree with the strategy of taking Theology from Oracle. Oracle should be a priority wonder for its Great Prophets.
3. When you do spread your religions, be careful about doing it to a civ that doesn't have a religion yet. Ideally, you will want to spread it first to a civ that didn't found a religion, but already has one in its borders. It may not be entirely possible to do that, but if you can strategize how you spread religion to your opponents, you can leverage your position with the AP. Certainly, having somebody be your friend because of shared religion is a good thing, but if this friend of yours is chummy with people who don't like you (and the way the AI works, it's more frequent for AI civs to like each other than for AI civs to like you personally), that friend of yours could end up preventing you from taking victory via the AP.