Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
Creeds, Prophets and Revolutionaries.
This is some idle religious system thinking inspired by some posts around. It's a system with an on-map component, though quite different and largely tuned down from the one in Civ VI, because while I think the implementation in VI was bad, the general concept that the game should happen on the map, not on separate screens was a good one. This system more or less ties in loyalty, culture, religion and ideologies together in one cohesive whole. Very much WIP, most comments welcome.
1)Creed, Religion, Ideology. A creed is a belief system, either spiritual or political, that attempts to spread across the map. Players only have limited control over this spread, which is largely the work of quasi-barbarian units called Great Prophets (Spiritual Creed) or Great Revolutionaries (Political Creed). Each Creed starts with one or more belief associated with it, granting him some in-game effect ; once a Creed become a Religion (Spiritual) or Ideology (Political), which requires that at least one civ adopt it as a state religion or state ideology and that a certain number of pops have adopted the creed, it can again additional beliefs. An existing Creeds can spread additional Great Prophets.
2)Great Prophets and Great Revolutionaries. These are a special form of great people that are never controlled by players. Other than the name (prophets spread religion, revolutionaries spread ideologies), they function similarly, and travel around the map, converting nearby pops to their creed. They appear at random at first, but later in the game, large cities with many pops of a creed, and cities with relics of that creed, are much more likely to spawn great revolutionaries nearby. Additionally, civilizations have access to the "Invite Teacher" special project, which, when completed, allow them to chose an existing creed and cause a Prophet/Revolutionary of that Creed to spawn near the completing city. They count as their own special category of unit, and do not block any other unit (regardless of owner) from occupying the same tile. After a certain number of turns, a prophet/revolutionary leaves the map, creating a relic in the nearest city with a free relic slot and at least one pop of the appropriate creed. For simplicity's sake, the rest of this post use "Prophet" to mean both Prophet and Revolutionary.
3)Suppressing Prophets. Military units in the same tile as a great prophet can attempt to suppress the prophet. This cause combat to occur between the prophet (combat strength represent the followers accompanying the prophet/revolutionary on their journey and grow the more pop they convert) and the military unit, but there are some twists. First, if the Great Prophet is defeated, a relic is created. It appears in the nearest empty relic slot in the nearest city with at least one pop of the appropriate religion. Second, if the great prophet victorious and the attacking unit destroyed, the nearest city of the controlling civ gains an additional pop of the prophet's creed - and there is a chance an *additional* great prophet of that same religion may spawn.
4)Relics (and Great Works of Art). Relics are created, as above, when a Great Prophet is suppressed or otherwise leave the map. Relics function largely as in Civ 6, granting cultural output, which (see point 8) cause the city holding the relic to passively spread the religion (but they do not generate tourism because no more tourism). However, in addition to their normal civ 6 great work effect, relics have the following benefit: they cause pop in their own city to steadily convert ; they cause units of the same state religion to gain an attack or defense bonus when attacking/defending the city from a wrong-religion unit, they grant their controller. Great work of arts also output culture, which (again, per point 8) cause the city to passively spread the corresponding creed, but have none of the other effects of relics. A relic can be destroyed by the civ that controls the city it is in, but this will destroy the building the relic is in, and additionally may cause the city to enter a revolt (see point 9).
5)Influence. Civilizations that have converted to a specific Creed (which then becomes a religion) have a degree of influence over that religion, depending on how many pops of that religion they control, and how many relics of that religion they control. At any time, the civ with the most religious influence over a given creed is the one that gets to determine what new beliefs it gain when it meets the thresholds for new beliefs ; and, if the creed meet the condition for a Cultural Victory, it is the civilization with the most influence over that creed *at that time* that wins the game. Which creates tension when trying to win this way between trying to spread the creed you support - and trying to retain control of it, with the possibility that you may bring yourself to the brink of a cultural victory only to have someone else snag control of it at the last moment.
6)Schism. A schism, the separation of a creed in two rival creeds, can happen when a great prophet for a creed spawn on a tile where the only pop it can reach within its alloted time are already following the same creed. In that case, the prophet may start preaching a schismatic version of the creed. Schismatic creeds otherwise function as separate creeds, but with the added caveat that a creed must reunify all its schismatic beliefs in order to win a religious/cultural victory. A schism may be deliberately triggered by a player by using a special project to create their own schism of their own religion (which create a schismatic prophet automatically).
7)Missionaries/Propagandists. Once proselytism (for spiritual creeds) or Propaganda (for Ideological creeds) are discovered, civs of the appropriate religion may build these units and actually control them. Like great prophets, they travel around the map converting pops in nearby cities to their religion. Like Great Prophets, they can be suppressed, and have much lower combat strength. Unlike prophets, they only have a slim chance (increased with promotions) of spawning relics if defeated, and will never spawn a great prophet if victorious. They cannot otherwise initiate combat, and there is (most pointedly) no missionary-to-missionary combat with little lightning bolt. The name of the units is subject to change, and in the late game the propagandist may well end up being basically Civ VI's rock band.
8)Passive Spread. If a city has a majority of its population being of a creed, then it begins to exert pressure on surrounding cities, slowly converting their pop to the appropriate creed. How much pressure depends on the culture generated by the city (thus, great works of art and relics greatly speed up passive spread, as do wonders), and the distance from the city (the further from the city, the less the pressure). If that cultural pressure exceed the cultural output of a nearby city, it will cause pops in that city to slowly convert to the majority creed of the spreading city.
9)Religious/Ideological Revolts. If a city has a majority of population from one creed, and is owned by a civ with a different state religion (or no state religion), then the city may enter a revolt (the odds increase based on how much of the city's pop is converted). If the revolt is not successfully dealt with in time (or the civ that owns the city does not convert to the appropriate state religion or ideology), the city may either become independant, or, if an adjacent civ has the right State Religion or ideology, may instead join that civ.
10)Cultural/Religious/Ideological Victory: Once a single creed has the majority of all pops in each of the remaining civilizations in the game, and no pop in the world belong to a schism of that creed, that creed begins counting down to a cultural victory. At the end of the countdown, if the creed still meet the requirements (no schism, and majority of all pop in each remaining civ) , the civilization with the most influence over that creed achieves a cultural/religious/ideological victory (pick your name).
This is some idle religious system thinking inspired by some posts around. It's a system with an on-map component, though quite different and largely tuned down from the one in Civ VI, because while I think the implementation in VI was bad, the general concept that the game should happen on the map, not on separate screens was a good one. This system more or less ties in loyalty, culture, religion and ideologies together in one cohesive whole. Very much WIP, most comments welcome.
1)Creed, Religion, Ideology. A creed is a belief system, either spiritual or political, that attempts to spread across the map. Players only have limited control over this spread, which is largely the work of quasi-barbarian units called Great Prophets (Spiritual Creed) or Great Revolutionaries (Political Creed). Each Creed starts with one or more belief associated with it, granting him some in-game effect ; once a Creed become a Religion (Spiritual) or Ideology (Political), which requires that at least one civ adopt it as a state religion or state ideology and that a certain number of pops have adopted the creed, it can again additional beliefs. An existing Creeds can spread additional Great Prophets.
2)Great Prophets and Great Revolutionaries. These are a special form of great people that are never controlled by players. Other than the name (prophets spread religion, revolutionaries spread ideologies), they function similarly, and travel around the map, converting nearby pops to their creed. They appear at random at first, but later in the game, large cities with many pops of a creed, and cities with relics of that creed, are much more likely to spawn great revolutionaries nearby. Additionally, civilizations have access to the "Invite Teacher" special project, which, when completed, allow them to chose an existing creed and cause a Prophet/Revolutionary of that Creed to spawn near the completing city. They count as their own special category of unit, and do not block any other unit (regardless of owner) from occupying the same tile. After a certain number of turns, a prophet/revolutionary leaves the map, creating a relic in the nearest city with a free relic slot and at least one pop of the appropriate creed. For simplicity's sake, the rest of this post use "Prophet" to mean both Prophet and Revolutionary.
3)Suppressing Prophets. Military units in the same tile as a great prophet can attempt to suppress the prophet. This cause combat to occur between the prophet (combat strength represent the followers accompanying the prophet/revolutionary on their journey and grow the more pop they convert) and the military unit, but there are some twists. First, if the Great Prophet is defeated, a relic is created. It appears in the nearest empty relic slot in the nearest city with at least one pop of the appropriate religion. Second, if the great prophet victorious and the attacking unit destroyed, the nearest city of the controlling civ gains an additional pop of the prophet's creed - and there is a chance an *additional* great prophet of that same religion may spawn.
4)Relics (and Great Works of Art). Relics are created, as above, when a Great Prophet is suppressed or otherwise leave the map. Relics function largely as in Civ 6, granting cultural output, which (see point 8) cause the city holding the relic to passively spread the religion (but they do not generate tourism because no more tourism). However, in addition to their normal civ 6 great work effect, relics have the following benefit: they cause pop in their own city to steadily convert ; they cause units of the same state religion to gain an attack or defense bonus when attacking/defending the city from a wrong-religion unit, they grant their controller. Great work of arts also output culture, which (again, per point 8) cause the city to passively spread the corresponding creed, but have none of the other effects of relics. A relic can be destroyed by the civ that controls the city it is in, but this will destroy the building the relic is in, and additionally may cause the city to enter a revolt (see point 9).
5)Influence. Civilizations that have converted to a specific Creed (which then becomes a religion) have a degree of influence over that religion, depending on how many pops of that religion they control, and how many relics of that religion they control. At any time, the civ with the most religious influence over a given creed is the one that gets to determine what new beliefs it gain when it meets the thresholds for new beliefs ; and, if the creed meet the condition for a Cultural Victory, it is the civilization with the most influence over that creed *at that time* that wins the game. Which creates tension when trying to win this way between trying to spread the creed you support - and trying to retain control of it, with the possibility that you may bring yourself to the brink of a cultural victory only to have someone else snag control of it at the last moment.
6)Schism. A schism, the separation of a creed in two rival creeds, can happen when a great prophet for a creed spawn on a tile where the only pop it can reach within its alloted time are already following the same creed. In that case, the prophet may start preaching a schismatic version of the creed. Schismatic creeds otherwise function as separate creeds, but with the added caveat that a creed must reunify all its schismatic beliefs in order to win a religious/cultural victory. A schism may be deliberately triggered by a player by using a special project to create their own schism of their own religion (which create a schismatic prophet automatically).
7)Missionaries/Propagandists. Once proselytism (for spiritual creeds) or Propaganda (for Ideological creeds) are discovered, civs of the appropriate religion may build these units and actually control them. Like great prophets, they travel around the map converting pops in nearby cities to their religion. Like Great Prophets, they can be suppressed, and have much lower combat strength. Unlike prophets, they only have a slim chance (increased with promotions) of spawning relics if defeated, and will never spawn a great prophet if victorious. They cannot otherwise initiate combat, and there is (most pointedly) no missionary-to-missionary combat with little lightning bolt. The name of the units is subject to change, and in the late game the propagandist may well end up being basically Civ VI's rock band.
8)Passive Spread. If a city has a majority of its population being of a creed, then it begins to exert pressure on surrounding cities, slowly converting their pop to the appropriate creed. How much pressure depends on the culture generated by the city (thus, great works of art and relics greatly speed up passive spread, as do wonders), and the distance from the city (the further from the city, the less the pressure). If that cultural pressure exceed the cultural output of a nearby city, it will cause pops in that city to slowly convert to the majority creed of the spreading city.
9)Religious/Ideological Revolts. If a city has a majority of population from one creed, and is owned by a civ with a different state religion (or no state religion), then the city may enter a revolt (the odds increase based on how much of the city's pop is converted). If the revolt is not successfully dealt with in time (or the civ that owns the city does not convert to the appropriate state religion or ideology), the city may either become independant, or, if an adjacent civ has the right State Religion or ideology, may instead join that civ.
10)Cultural/Religious/Ideological Victory: Once a single creed has the majority of all pops in each of the remaining civilizations in the game, and no pop in the world belong to a schism of that creed, that creed begins counting down to a cultural victory. At the end of the countdown, if the creed still meet the requirements (no schism, and majority of all pop in each remaining civ) , the civilization with the most influence over that creed achieves a cultural/religious/ideological victory (pick your name).
. I know Granary and Water Mill are there to represent early stages cities and make them grow, also represent state control of food reserves under emergencies, but seriously this can be done in other way without waste City Center visuals.
