Best (or Worst) Possible Religion (Belief Combinations)

[Wabango]

Hey all, as the title states: post here what you think is the best (most profitable/strategic) combination of beliefs come BNW, thus including the newly acquirable "Reformation" beliefs, which can be accessed through the Piety finisher.

If you so choose to come up with the worst possible combination, please make that apparent.

I have a link to both the German Play through and the thread discussing Reformation beliefs: here.
List of Already implemented beliefs is: here.

This thread is meant to be fun and hopefully highlight the impact BNW will have on the Religion/Faith aspect of the game, specifically with the inclusion of another tier of beliefs.



Here is my "best" possible religion:

Pantheon: Desert Folklore
Founder: Tithe
Follower: Pagoda
Follower: Religious Community
Enhancer: Religious texts
Reformation: Charitable Missions

 

[TPangolin]

Semi relevant, but Temple of Artemis + Hanging Gardens + Tradition finisher + 10% Growth pantheon + Swords into Plowshares is just amazing (especially if one is playing as Monty or Ramkamkangaroo).

 

[Harald B]

Wide happiness strategy:

Pantheon: (situational)
Founder: Ceremonial Burial
Follower: Pagodas
Follower: Cathedrals/Mosques
Enhancer: Itinerant Preachers
Reformation: Sacred Sites

Let your wide empire get almost arbitrarily many cities by getting +4 happiness from religion in each one. Sacred Sites leverages your follower beliefs for +4 tourism per city, which I suspect will be a rather large amount.

 

[Babri]

Wouldn't make it more sense to pick +2 happiness for temples than Cathedrals belief ?

 

[digrosz]

Wide happiness strategy:

Pantheon: (situational)
Founder: Ceremonial Burial
Follower: Pagodas
Follower: Cathedrals/Mosques
Enhancer: Itinerant Preachers
Reformation: Sacred Sites / Underground Sect

Let your wide empire get almost arbitrarily many cities by getting +4 happiness from religion in each one. Sacred Sites lets you take further advantage of those bonuses, especially if you follow Order with Dictatorship of the Proletariat.

As pantheon I would pick Messenger Of The Gods, amazing when playing wide.

 

[Navelgazer]

Semi relevant, but Temple of Artemis + Hanging Gardens + Tradition finisher + 10% Growth pantheon + Swords into Plowshares is just amazing (especially if one is playing as Monty or Ramkamkangaroo).

I'm curious why specifically for Monty or Rammy? Is there something about a jungle bias I'm not getting there?

 

[Kruppe]

I like so much: Desert folklore, Ceremonial burial, Cathedrals, Pagodas, Itinerant preachers.

Now I think to pick Sacred Sites.

 

[Worlds_Crossing]

I'm curious why specifically for Monty or Rammy? Is there something about a jungle bias I'm not getting there?

UB and UA, respectively. The first gives % food while the second gets extra food from CS's.

 

[Inhalaattori]

I'm curious why specifically for Monty or Rammy? Is there something about a jungle bias I'm not getting there?

Floating gardens.

 

[MadDjinn]

I'm curious why specifically for Monty or Rammy? Is there something about a jungle bias I'm not getting there?

Monty gets the Floating Gardens, which is another food booster.

Rammy gets more food from CSs (when friends or allied), so the % boosts go further.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

"World Religion" (for a small empire Culture win)

Byzantine
Enhancer: Texts
Enhacer: Itenerant
Reformation: Unity of Prophets

...... a religion that marches across the world... Almost impossible to stop.

 

[Harald B]

Wouldn't make it more sense to pick +2 happiness for temples than Cathedrals belief ?

There are reasons. For most of the game, cathedrals are substantially easier to buy/build than temples, even taking the Piety bonus into account. The +2 happy for temples is only in cities with 5+ citizens, which can be a drag and goes against strategies using "Avoid Growth". And then there's the fact that temples don't get the +2 Tourism from Sacred Sites, which depending on how rare Tourism is can mean a lot.

Another idea. The Just War strategy:

Pantheon: Faith Healers
Founder: Pilgrimage
Follower: Divine Inspiration
Follower: Religious Community
Enhancer: Just War
Reformation: Evangelism

Make strategic use of trade routes and Evangelism to convert your opponent's key cities to your religion, then get +20% attack when you go to war. (You can and perhaps should also let your melee units escort Missionaries during war, but you should probably do at least some prep work first.) The extra faith from Pilgrimage helps you buy more Missionaries and Prophets, while Faith Healers will greatly tighten your war logistics.
The Follower beliefs are mostly filler. Holy Warriors is deliberately avoided so that your enemies can't use it to defend themselves with.

 

[Harald B]

"World Religion" (for a small empire Culture win)

Byzantine
Enhancer: Texts
Enhacer: Itenerant
Reformation: Unity of Prophets

...... a religion that marches across the world... Almost impossible to stop.

You're forgetting to mention how having your religion spread worldwide will help you. I'd suggest adding Papal Primacy or Peace-loving. Initiation Rites or Tithe could work well too.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

You're forgetting to mention how having your religion spread worldwide will help you. I'd suggest adding Papal Primacy or Peace-loving. Initiation Rites or Tithe could work well too.

Mostly for the Tourism Bonus.... And it might be easier to get 'World Religion" resolution (even more tourism bonus) if everyone is following it.

For CS I would use underground sects.... As you will be having spies in those cs.

 

[Harald B]

Ah. I had to look up that Tourism bonus, but I can see now.

 

[Ulthwithian]

This is a bit tangential to the main discussion, but I'm not sure why Desert Folklore is considered that good. Does it work on Flood Plains, unlike Petra? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Recently, I've been going with supershrine Religions with Maya-like Civs, so I don't know how much the Reformation beliefs will help those...

 

[Kruppe]

This is a bit tangential to the main discussion, but I'm not sure why Desert Folklore is considered that good. Does it work on Flood Plains, unlike Petra? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Recently, I've been going with supershrine Religions with Maya-like Civs, so I don't know how much the Reformation beliefs will help those...

Yes, it work on desert tile and on flood plains. So if you have a city with only desert or flood plains tile you give much faith without any cost.

 

[Harald B]

I think it does. It also stacks with Petra. It can turn an otherwise awful desert start into a great religious lead.

edit:ninjad

 

[MadDjinn]

This is a bit tangential to the main discussion, but I'm not sure why Desert Folklore is considered that good. Does it work on Flood Plains, unlike Petra? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Recently, I've been going with supershrine Religions with Maya-like Civs, so I don't know how much the Reformation beliefs will help those...

yes, Desert Faith works on Floodplains.

It's likely the most powerful Pantheon as, *if* you start in a desert, you will get your religion very fast just by working the hexes you always work.

Ofc, if there's not much desert around then it's not as useful - though, with at least 6ish hexes of workable desert (not flat/non-resource desert) it's just as good as Stonehenge.

The tundra faith pantheon works the same, but there's rarely non-forested tundra that you'd want to work.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

This is a bit tangential to the main discussion, but I'm not sure why Desert Folklore is considered that good. Does it work on Flood Plains, unlike Petra? Or is there something else I'm missing?

DF works on Floodplains, Oases, Hills etc. All the tiles that your city is likely to be working for the rest of its existence. So, it pretty much means that you don't need to bother with building more Faith buildings in those cities that are effected by it until much later.