Religion
Pantheon Beliefs
"These were bronze age people and they had a pantheon of gods that
they thought controlled their world." - Michael Sheridan
Pantheon Beliefs
"These were bronze age people and they had a pantheon of gods that
they thought controlled their world." - Michael Sheridan
Introduction
A pantheon is a pre-religion belief (one pantheon belief per civilization) that can provide a helpful boost to empire development. Some pantheon beliefs provide additional faith, or happiness, culture, food, or hammers, or other specialized benefits, like higher population or border growth rates and enhanced healing rates for military units. Your choice of pantheon belief can be critically important, whether you are founding a pantheon solely to gain the benefits of a specific belief or to lay the foundation for a strong religion.
Which pantheon belief makes sense for you will depend on the surrounding terrain, your civilization's particular strengths and weaknesses, and your ambitions for the game. This article provides an overview of the available pantheon beliefs:
Found a Pantheon
Key Concepts
- Faith
- a type of yield or "currency" that is central to the religion system. For an overview of faith and how to generate it, see "How Does the Religion System Work?"
- Belief - the core element of any pantheon or religion, providing specific benefits depending on circumstances
- Pantheon - a pre-religion belief that is absorbed into (and superseded by) a religion
- Religion - a set of beliefs, consisting of a pantheon belief, a founder belief, two follower beliefs, an enhancer belief and potentially a reformation belief. Establishing a religion includes two major steps: founding the religion and enhancing the religion. A religion also may add a reformation belief by selecting the Reformation policy in the Piety social policy tree.
There are 26 pantheon beliefs. The beliefs are typically terrain-based or based around improvements, with a few exceptions. Since each pantheon belief can be taken by only one civilization, it is important to generate faith quickly to ensure that you can get your choice of pantheon beliefs. The first pantheon to be founded requires 10 faith, and each subsequent pantheon requires 5 more faith, up to a maximum of 45 faith. For information about how to generate faith, see "How Does the Religion System Work?"
The 26 pantheon beliefs can be divided into 8 categories, based upon the yield or other benefits the belief provides:
- Broad-based beliefs
- Faith-giving beliefs
- Culture-giving beliefs
- Production beliefs
- Happiness beliefs
- Food and growth beliefs
- Defensive beliefs
- Science beliefs
Broad-based beliefs
Most pantheons provide bonuses based on surrounding terrain. But if the local terrain isn't suitable for a terrain-based pantheon, a broad-based pantheon may be more appealing.
It can be quite difficult to found, enhance and spread a religion without strong faith generation. A faith-giving pantheon belief can provide a significant boost. Each of the faith-giving beliefs (other than God of War) requires that you work specific tiles in order to enjoy the faith yield from those tiles. In some cases, the faith-giving tiles are ones that you almost assuredly would be working for much of the game (most notably with Desert Folklore and Stone Circles). In other cases, the faith-giving tiles may be tiles that you would otherwise want to work only intermittently (or in some cases, not at all).
Like the faith-giving beliefs, each of the culture-giving beliefs (other than Ancestor Worship) requires that you work specific tiles in order to enjoy the culture yield from those tiles. And, like the faith-giving beliefs, many of the culture-giving tiles are ones that you almost assuredly would be working for much of the game (most notably with God of the Open Sky and Oral Tradition), while others may be worked only intermittently.
Most pantheons provide bonuses based on surrounding terrain. But if the local terrain isn't suitable for a terrain-based pantheon, a broad-based pantheon may be more appealing.
- God-King: Palace provides +1 to these yields:
, , 
, 
, and 
. Although this pantheon may ultimately provide less overall yield than more focused pantheons, it can be particularly attractive if you do not expect to competitive in the religion race, but want a strong pantheon for as long as you can reap those benefits. Note that the benefits of this pantheon are limited to your capital.
It can be quite difficult to found, enhance and spread a religion without strong faith generation. A faith-giving pantheon belief can provide a significant boost. Each of the faith-giving beliefs (other than God of War) requires that you work specific tiles in order to enjoy the faith yield from those tiles. In some cases, the faith-giving tiles are ones that you almost assuredly would be working for much of the game (most notably with Desert Folklore and Stone Circles). In other cases, the faith-giving tiles may be tiles that you would otherwise want to work only intermittently (or in some cases, not at all).
- Dance of the Aurora: +1 from Tundra tiles without Forest. Although this belief might appear to be a powerful faith generator, its utility is severely hampered by the requirement that the tundra tiles be free of forest. Chopping tundra forests does provide hammers to speed production, but naked tundra tiles are not usually attractive tiles to work. Camps from which forests have been chopped, tundra hills that have been mined and riverside tundra farms are usually the more attractive tiles to work for faith. If you spawn in the tundra, you should seriously consider Dance of the Aurora, but its selection should not be automatic.
- Desert Folklore: +1 from Desert tiles. This is one of the most powerful faith-generating beliefs, and is as close to an "automatic" choice as you will find in the pantheon beliefs. All desert tiles, including floodplains, yield faith. If your city is located in a desert and you can select Desert Folklore, you are almost assured of founding an early religion.
- Earth Mother: +1 from each Copper, Iron and Salt resource. All copper, iron and salt tiles, whether or not improved, yield faith. Since iron is not visible on the map until you research Bronze Working, you will not get any faith from iron tiles until then. In practice, it is rare that this pantheon will provide more than 3-4 faith in a given city, but that amount of faith can make all of the difference in getting a religion.
- God of War: Gain if you win a battle within 4 tiles if your city. The amount of faith provided is one half of the killed unit's combat strength (the same benefit enjoyed by the Celts' unique unit, the Pictish Warrior). The utility of this pantheon belief in the early game depends heavily on the level of barbarian activity (or an early war) near your cities. Because this belief cannot deliver consistent or reliable levels of faith, it is not a heavily favored belief.
- Goddess of Festivals: +1 and +1 for each Wine and Incense. This is one of two pantheon beliefs that provide both faith and culture. If you have three or more wine and incense tiles nearby, this belief should be strongly considered. Note that the wine and incense tiles do not have to be improved to yield faith.
Mt Kailash
- One with Nature: +4 from Natural Wonders. Although very situational, this can be a powerful faith generator. Its effects stack with the faith yield of a religious natural wonder, so, for example, Mt. Kailash and One with Nature will yield 10 faith from a single tile. This is a particularly compelling pantheon belief for Spain, whose Unique Ability doubles yields from natural wonders, including the faith yield from One with Nature (e.g., Mt. Kailash and One With Nature would yield 20 faith from a single tile).
- Religious Idols: +1 and +1 for each Gold and Silver. This is the second pantheon belief that provides both faith and culture. If you have three or more silver and gold tiles nearby, this belief should be strongly considered. Note that the silver and gold tiles do not have to be improved to yield faith. Unlike wine and incense, however, silver and gold is usually found on hill tiles, so working those tiles will require some other source of food generation, making this a somewhat less reliable source of faith and culture.
- Stone Circles: +2 from Quarries. This is a powerful faith-generating belief, but does require that your stone and marble tiles have improved quarries. Because Masonry must be researched and the tiles improved, this belief is usually slower to begin generating faith. However, once improved, quarry tiles are usually worked for the entire game, making this a quite reliable source of faith throughout the game. If you foresee having three or more quarry tiles, you should strongly consider this belief.
- Tears of the Gods: +2 for each Gems and Pearls resource. If you have two or more gems or pearls tiles nearby, this belief should be strongly considered. Note that the gems and pearls tiles do not have to be improved to yield faith.
Like the faith-giving beliefs, each of the culture-giving beliefs (other than Ancestor Worship) requires that you work specific tiles in order to enjoy the culture yield from those tiles. And, like the faith-giving beliefs, many of the culture-giving tiles are ones that you almost assuredly would be working for much of the game (most notably with God of the Open Sky and Oral Tradition), while others may be worked only intermittently.
- Ancestor Worship: +1 for every Shrine in your civilization. Because you generally will be building shrines, this provides a nice enhancement to the value of shrines. This is particularly useful if you intend to conquer a large puppet empire, since puppets will build shrines. This is also a common choice of players adopting a so-called "super-shrine" strategy (coupling this belief with follower beliefs that enhance the happiness and food yield from shrines).
- God of the Open Sky: +1 from Pastures. This belief is most appropriate where you have multiple sources of sheep, cows and horses. Note that this belief does require that the sheep, cow and horse tiles be improved with pastures.
- Goddess of Festivals: +1 and +1 for each Wine and Incense. This is one of the two pantheon beliefs that provide both culture and faith. If you have three or more wine and incense tiles nearby, this belief should be strongly considered. Note that the wine and incense tiles do not have to be improved to yield culture.
- Oral Tradition: +1 from Plantations. This belief is most appropriate where you have multiple sources of cotton, citrus, dyes, silk, sugar or bananas. Note that this belief does require that the resource tiles be improved with a plantation. In the case of banana tiles, this will require that you decide whether the tile is more valuable improved with a plantation or left unimproved for later science yield after a university is built in that city. If you have wine or incense, you should consider Goddess of Festivals, which provides both culture and faith and does not require the tiles be improved.
- Religious Idols: +1 and +1 for each Gold and Silver. This is the second pantheon belief that provides both culture and faith. If you have three or more silver and gold tiles nearby, this belief should be strongly considered. Note that the silver and gold tiles do not have to be improved to yield culture. Unlike wine and incense, however, silver and gold is usually found on hill tiles, so working those tiles will require some other source of food generation, making this a somewhat less reliable source of culture and faith.
- Sacred Path: +1 from Jungle tiles. For a city surrounded by jungle, this can be a very attractive belief. However, its utility depends upon the jungle remaining unchopped, which effectively means only trading posts can be built on those tiles.
Production beliefs
The three production-oriented beliefs are relatively situational and (with the exception of God of the Sea) are generally viewed as less attractive than other pantheon beliefs.
There are two pantheon beliefs that provide local city happiness (happiness limited by city population, as with circuses and colosseums, not global happiness). Either belief can be useful, although there are other sources of happiness in the game, including founder and follower beliefs, that may be more broadly useful.
There are four growth-related pantheon beliefs, only one of which is potentially useful regardless of terrain.
There are two pantheon beliefs that provide defensive benefits.
There is only one pantheon belief that provides any direct science benefits.
Strategic considerations in selecting a pantheon beliefThe three production-oriented beliefs are relatively situational and (with the exception of God of the Sea) are generally viewed as less attractive than other pantheon beliefs.
- God of Craftsmen: +1 in cities with population of 3+. Like the Liberty social policy Republic, this belief provides one additional hammer in cities with a population of 3 or more. This can be useful in the early game, where an additional hammer may represent a 25% or greater increase in production, but its impact declines as the game continues.
- God of the Sea: +1 from Fishing Boats. This is regarded by some as a "must-have" belief on water maps. Its production benefits are comparable to (but stack with) a lighthouse and, when combined with a lighthouse and a seaport, it can make water tiles improved with fishing boats into "super tiles" producing copious amounts of food, hammers and gold.
Borobudur
- Monument to the Gods: +15% Production of Ancient/Classical Wonders. Although a wonder production boost may seem attractive, the benefits of this belief are limited to the ancient and classical era wonders. From a religion perspective, this is only useful if your goal is to rush-build Stonehenge as your major source of faith. It will not help you build the Great Mosque of Djenne, Borobudur or The Hagia Sophia, which are Medieval-era wonders. Otherwise, because the benefits of this belief will be short lived, it is most appropriately selected when you are not planning on founding a religion and, instead, want a production boost for your National College, Pyramids, Oracle and other useful early-game wonders. Note that this belief applies to all early era wonders, even if they are built after you have researched a later era. This can be useful if you delay building the early National Wonders (such as the National Epic, Heroic Epic, and Circus Maximus). On balance, many have concluded that the 1 hammer from God of Craftsmen is competitive with Monument of the Gods for building early wonders, and, of course, far superior for producing other buildings and units. Similarly, given its other yields, God-King is arguably superior to both.
There are two pantheon beliefs that provide local city happiness (happiness limited by city population, as with circuses and colosseums, not global happiness). Either belief can be useful, although there are other sources of happiness in the game, including founder and follower beliefs, that may be more broadly useful.
- Goddess of Love: +1 Local City
from cities with population of 6+. Because of the city-size requirement, this belief is most useful for players adopting a taller strategy, although nearly all cities will eventually get to population 6 or higher (except in strict ICS-oriented strategies), making this belief competitive in the mid- to late-game.
- Sacred Waters: +1 Local City from cities on rivers. This belief has no minimum-population requirement, but does require that the city be founded next to a river. Many players desire riverside cities in any event, but not every city can or should be founded on a river. As a result, this belief is not as highly regarded as Goddess of Love.
There are four growth-related pantheon beliefs, only one of which is potentially useful regardless of terrain.
- Fertility Rites: 10% faster Growth Rate. Like other growth modifiers, this belief provide a 10% increase to food surplus in a city (e.g., if you have a 4 food surplus, this belief increases the surplus by 0.4 food, to a total of 4.4 food). Because this belief enhances growth, it is most commonly selected by players pursuing a taller strategy. Players pursuing a wider strategy and seeking to limit city growth will not find this belief useful.
- Goddess of the Hunt: +1
from Hunting Camps. This belief is most attractive where you have multiple sources of deer, ivory, furs and truffles nearby. This belief does require that the resource tiles be improved with a camp. If you have a large enough number of camps to work, this belief can provide significantly more growth benefits than Fertility Rites.
- Religious Settlements: +15% faster border growth. This belief does not help increase your population. Instead it speeds the expansion of your culture borders, potentially making valuable resource tiles available more quickly. However, it does not reduce the gold cost of purchasing tiles, so its benefits remain essentially passive. It is arguably more attractive in games where you have not selected the Tradition opener (which speeds border growth) and border growth can be quite slow. On balance, however, this is not a highly regarded belief.
- Sun God: +1 for each Banana, Citrus, and Wheat resource. This belief is particularly powerful. Like a granary, this belief does not require that the resources be improved. If you have several of these types of resources in range, and are interested in pursuing a city-growth strategy, you should strongly consider this pantheon belief.
There are two pantheon beliefs that provide defensive benefits.
- Faith Healers: +30 HP healed per turn if adjacent to a friendly city. To obtain the healing benefit, your unit must be in one of the six tiles immediately adjacent to the city center tile. The benefits of this belief are not limited to your own cities, but also include city states with which you have "friend" or "ally" status and cities of other civilizations with whom you have a Declaration of Friendship.
- Goddess of Protection: +30% increase in city Ranged Combat Strength. This can be useful for defensive purposes. Unlike the Tradition social policy Oligarchy, the benefits of this belief do not require that the city have a garrison.
There is only one pantheon belief that provides any direct science benefits.
- Messenger of the Gods: +2 in cities with a City Connection. Once a city connection (road or harbor connection) is in place, this belief provides a science output equivalent to a library in a 4-population city. This belief can be useful for a wider strategy, whether used in conjunction with early libraries in newly founded cities or to allow libraries to be delayed while keeping pace in research. This belief can be particularly useful to Carthage, with its free harbors and automatic city connections upon researching The Wheel, and the Iroquois, for whom forest and jungle tiles in friendly territory can form a city connection. Other civilizations must build roads and harbors to form city connections before this belief pays dividends. This pantheon is less compelling if you can obtain similar amounts of science from caravan and cargo ship trade routes to more advanced civilizations.
Like free Great Persons and social policies, a choice of pantheon belief should reinforce your strategic plans for the game, and deserves careful thought. Even if you are not planning on founding a religion, a pantheon belief can provide a useful boost to culture, production or growth, or provide helpful early game defensive benefits.
Stonehenge
If you do plan to found a religion, but have other reliable methods of generating faith (such as Stonehenge, early religious City State alliances, have settled near a religious Natural Wonder or are taking early Piety policies), you may choose another pantheon belief that will provide more compelling advantages in other parts of your game. Conversely, if you intend to pursue a wider strategy, the potential happiness benefits of a well-spread religion may be too important to ignore, and may drive you to select a faith-giving pantheon belief even if other beliefs might be more advantageous in the short-run.
Because many of the most attractive pantheon beliefs are terrain-dependent, do not limit your analysis to the terrain surrounding your capital when you have the opportunity to select a pantheon belief. The terrain of nearby settlement sites may be sufficiently compelling to drive your choice of pantheon beliefs. For example, your capital may have few if any desert tiles, but a potential Petra site nearby may have enough floodplains and other desert tiles to make Desert Folklore a compelling choice, even before founding that second city. Similarly, you may have your eye on a nearly jungle site as a potential science city. Taking Sacred Path, intending to found your next city in that location, may be an astute choice.
On the other hand, be careful not to let your choice of pantheon belief cause you to make poor choices about future city settlement sites. For example, selecting Desert Folklore or Religious Icons for your pantheon belief does not mean that every desert site or site with ready access to gold and silver is a good location for a city. Fundamentals, such as defensibility and access to food and production tiles, should always take precedence.
Conclusion
Pantheon beliefs can provide helpful advantages in many aspects of the game, including generating faith and culture, accelerating food and population growth, boosting production and assisting with defense. Which pantheon beliefs you select should be consistent with, and helpful to, your strategic goals, whether or not you intend to found a religion.