I have ditched that game for now. I may try to finish it at a later time attempting to get Islam from DR to replace Christianity.
To get Divine Right quicker, a Great Prophet can bulb about 1/2 of it. Two Great Prophets can bulb practically the whole DR Tech, depending on Map Size.
I assume that trying to convert a city with a lot of already established religions or a religious holy city would be more difficult, but am not sure about what factors affect chance of missionary failure. Anyone know?
There's a precise formula for Missionary religion conversion of a City. My imprecise rule of thumb is 10% chance of failure per existing Religion. I think that is pretty close to the precise formula. As a result, its always best to covert Cities with a low (or best yet zero) established Religions. I always target a City with zero Religions when its a reasonable option (has a desirable Population and is not too far away). Next best is a City with one Religion which has about the same chance of success as a 90% military attack. I usually say a "prayer" when try to convert a City with 2 Religions. In such cases, its best to have "backup" Missionaries just like you always want "backup" military units when capturing a City.
When does the AI vote for diplomatic victories take place? Does it take place simultaneously with the player vote? Or do they vote on their turn after (or before) the player's turn?
All Civs (including the Player) effectively Vote on the same Turn. In general, you must get your Diplomatic bonuses on the Turn
prior to the Vote in order for the AI Civ's Vote to be affected by it. There is one caveat to this general rule: When an AI presents a request, demand or just a trading option at the beginning of the Turn of the Vote, the diplomatic effect of your response
will affect his Vote. If this happens, do what will please him, assuming you need his Vote.
If the player has just voted is it useless to try to get an AI up to friendly that turn? Is their vote already cast?
With the exception of the caveat mentioned above, it is useless to attempt to change an AI's Vote on the Turn of the Vote. All Votes are cast right after any AI requests of the Player have been completed (the caveat previously mentioned).
Is there a guide to diplomatic victories that deals with these issues?
I don't think so. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have regarding Religious Leader Diplomatic Victories.
There the "The Apostolic Palace Guide" which provides a excellent description (not entirely accurate though) of the effects of the The Apostolic Palace, but it doesn't mention much at all about the Religious Leader Diplomatic Victory Resolution and certainly no details about how to Win it. It also claims to be current with BtS 3.17.
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/apostolicpalace.php
The timing of TAP Votes is based on when TAP is built. The first Resident Election occurs on the Turn immediately after this. It is best to measure the timing of all future TAP Votes relative to the Turn Number of the last Resident Election Vote.
The Religious Leader Diplomatic Victory Resolution will become available when all Civs have the TAP Religion and no Civ has 75% or more of the TAP Vote (no Civ is permitted to dominate the RL DV Vote). However, the RL DV Resolution (like all other TAP resolutions) itself occurs only on a roughly periodic schedule based on the Game's Speed:
Code:
Speed Turn Period
===== ==
Quick 7
Normal 10
Epic 14
Marathon 28
If the Game Conditions make no Resolution possible (including RL DV), the Turn a TAP Vote is scheduled will often be passed by without any notice. Every fifth period there will be a Resident Election and no Resolutions be available (regardless of any Conditions allowing them).
There is also a "Grace" period of up to 4 Turns: If you convert the last Civ to TAP Membership (hopefully not Full Membership) on the Turn the RL DV victory would have been scheduled, the RL DV is simply delayed one turn. You can be up to 3t more turns late and still have the RV DV option on the following turn. If you miss the grace period, a new Resident Election is often called for.
I've played dozens of Religious Leader Diplomatic Victory Games and still don't completely understand the conditions for a new Resident Election. Earlier versions of BtS had what I consider a "bug" in the schedule of RL DV and I'm not sure it has been entirely fixed. It has been at least partially fixed.
Sun Tzu Wu
