Tips for religion spread

[birkborkason]

Hi! Trying to win my first game with religious victory. Playing as Russia on King. I'm miles ahead of anyone else in faith gathering, but wonder about the most effective way to spread religion. Should I focus on sending my missionaries/apostles to explore potential others civs where there are weak religions, or should I focus on an all out attack on the other main religions on my continent. Also, what do you find most useful; missionaries or apostles?

 

[Ordnael]

You need apostles to "finish" you religion tenets (bonuses). I always focus on apostles first if I don't have much faith to spare, even if you are rushed by enemy missionaries trying to erase your religion, as long as you have a lone apostle you can fight back, preferably by not wasting him away on converting cities and instead use him to fight those missionaries. If you have loads of faith then yes you can carpet bomb the enemy, first finish converting your cities and then send them abroad but be careful, if they are being picked off by enemy apostles, then it's better to stop sending missionaries.
So yes I find apostles more useful, sure they are much more expensive, but just placing a couple of them amidst the enemy cities to pick off their missionaries can make conversion go fast and cripples the AI ability to fight back.

 

[vorlon_mi]

I learned a good tactic for apostle use from a Potato McWhiskey video

where he was working to rescue / rehabilitate a save file someone sent him.

Specifically to this question, he wanted to push back the religious influence of his next-door neighbor civ, on the same continent. Potato bought a pair of apostles with faith, and send them across the border together. When they conducted religious warfare with the enemy, the *overall* influence of the other religion was diminished. Not using their spread charges *directly*, but indirectly reducing the influence of the native religion. He mentioned that missionaries could come through after, doing direct spreads, to help clean up.

I've used this tactic successfully in a recent game as Mali (Mansa Musa). Keeping a pair of apostles near my border with Gilgamesh, I could fend off any apostles or missionaries he used to try to convert my cities. The indirect method also helps with city-states, where one cannot use inquisitors to remove the foreign religion.

Eventually, yes, you will need to send apostles to the other continent to convert those civs to win a religious victory. I would recommend securing your own continent first; this also depends a bit on which other civs founded a religion and where they are located. If most of the founders are on your landmass, then your efforts on other landmasses should be easier after converting your neighbors. Use the religion lens to see who your big opponents will be.
As you note, other civs who have a weak religion -- meaning that either they did not found one, or did found one but haven't spread it well -- will be a good place to start. You may find them to be a battleground between you and one of the other large religions.