9 Non-Religious Focused Civs?

[Trengilly]

In the recent livestream Ed mentioned that there are now nine civs that won't focus on getting a religion (unless they get a natural boost to religion, eg wonder or goodie hut relic)

I assume that by not focusing on religion these civs will play a much more challenging game. Much like Kongo currently.

Ed did mention that Australia was one of the civs - which is kind of scary since they are already one of the more challenging civs.

Any guesses who the other 8 civs are? Will they tell us in the patch notes?

 

[Browd]

I doubt we will get level of detail in the patch notes, but once the patch is out I would expect more than one CivFanatic will be digging in the game files to figure this out (and many other things as well).

 

[Cerilis]

I dont think they will tells us in the patch notes. But I will have my guess (not counting Kongo):

1. Victoria
2. Alexander
3. Catherine
4. Roosevelt
5. Pericles
6. John Curtin
7. Trajan
8. Barbarossa
9. Qin Shi

I'm not so sure about the last 2 though.

 

[Trengilly]

I tend to agree with that list - its going to be interesting to see how these civs perform when they aren't wasting time on religion. This could be a really big "back handed" AI boost.

 

[Katakanja]

Well, I suspect Kongo counts retroactively in the one-third of non-religious civs, as for the others... I suppose it would be those that have the least synergy between their abilities and a religion to begin with. England, Germany and Macedon are probably all candidates. Maybe the Greeks too, even though that would be a little unhistorical considering the greek pantheon, their greater focus on culture here might mean gameplay trumps fact.

 

[antimony]

If I remember well Teddy already has non-religious focus according to XML file for leader characteristics.

 

[Calcifer]

These civilizations don't have any bonus toward religion or faith yields, I think there is a good chance that the 9 civs belong in this list:

Macedonia
France
Persia
Germany
Sumeria
Greece
Australia
China
America
Rome
England

That makes 11 civs and 12 leaders. I'll let you speculate about which civs should be picked, the only thing I can say is that Greece has an indirect bonus towards founding a religion (with the early wildcard slot), so it would make sense excluding it.

EDIT: There is also another point to be analyzed: they could also tone down religion on warmonger civs like Nubia and Scythia, so their faith bonus goes towards a theocracy push. This seems less likely though.

 

[ggalindo001]

One thought -- I wonder if the toned down focus on founding a religion is a trait at the civilization level or on the individual leader level. If at the individual leader level, this could be a very powerful mechanic with future DLC/Expansions.

The more I thought of this last night, the more I thought this was an absolute step in the right direction. And as much as I have been critical on the livestream on the AI, the reality is that this feels almost like a mini Expansion pack vs. a patch. And that is good, and promising.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Yes, I imagine this will be a leader-oriented rather than civ-oriented trait. Because Victoria probably isn't concerned with founding a religion, but a hypothetical Henry VIII would be.

 

[iammaxhailme]

I imagine cultural civs will always have a focus on religion because they go hand-in-hand so easily, so I can't imagine Greece or China being totally atheistic...

 

[nzcamel]

If you look at the leader screens in the civilopeida, they note which in-game religion each leader was strongly associated with in life. Of course the polytheists and others who didn't have an organised religion aren't linked to any. I would suspect it's more likely to be those who have no official tie to a in-game religion who end up with the lesser focus on it.

 

[UWHabs]

Also still need to see what a "lesser focus" means. Does it just mean that they don't build a holy site as their first district, or do they value faith less as a yield, or what? Because you could see some like Tomyris or Monty who do have faith bonuses, but maybe don't need to focus on holy sites, potentially being among the civs if it's just about holy sites and GPP, but obviously because they can get bonus faith, they should still certainly be interested in generating it (as said, perhaps for mid-game Theocracy use).

 

[AmtrakQuebec]

In the recent livestream Ed mentioned that there are now nine civs that won't focus on getting a religion (unless they get a natural boost to religion, eg wonder or goodie hut relic)

I assume that by not focusing on religion these civs will play a much more challenging game. Much like Kongo currently.

Ed did mention that Australia was one of the civs - which is kind of scary since they are already one of the more challenging civs.

Any guesses who the other 8 civs are? Will they tell us in the patch notes?

Australia is one of the more challenging civs?

In what alternate universe is that?

 

[Cerilis]

Australia is one of the more challenging civs?

In what alternate universe is that?

To have as an enemy?

 

[Archon_Wing]

They should all be non-religous by default, and this should be worked backwards to decide whether some civs will take more of an interest in religion.

Kongo is generally the best AI consistently (and not really carried by its inherent civ abilities), so that should be the standard to what all other AIs should be doing. Ironically, I consider that to be an advantage to playing as Kongo, since you won't have to play against them.

Currently, religous AI is more or less synonymous with punching bag, besides civs like Russia and Arabia (maybe Japan) which can pursue Religion fairly easily.

 

[antimony]

To have as an enemy?

In games I've played Australia often tends to lose cities early to another AI, perhaps they undervalue military since their bonuses don't help initiate war.