Achieving an Altar Victory
- Thread starter MalkutX
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MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
There are 7 levels of the Altar of the Luonnatar. The first 6 are national wonders built by sacrificing great prophets in one of your cities (for levels 2-6, it must be in the city with the level immediately below it), assuming you have the prerequisite techs. Each level provides a larger bonus than the one beofore, such as free xp for disciples, free happiness in that city/all cities, and extra production/gold for priest/great prophet specialists. Building one level makes removes the previous one, so these boni don't stack (unless you give yorself multiple altars in worldbuilder) Evil civs cannot build new levels of the Altars, but they don't lose the old levels.
The Final Altar is an expensive world wonder that requires a very late game tech and can only be built in a city with the 6th level of the Altar. If you have the Altar victory turned on, completing this wonder will make you win the game. Keep in mind,however, that your AI rivals are scripted to declare war on you if you get too close to completion.
The Final Altar is an expensive world wonder that requires a very late game tech and can only be built in a city with the 6th level of the Altar. If you have the Altar victory turned on, completing this wonder will make you win the game. Keep in mind,however, that your AI rivals are scripted to declare war on you if you get too close to completion.
I haven't seen the AI declare war on you for it... You don't have to build it in a holy city, normaly it is probably best to run it in your best production city that is also set up to run numerous great priests, you need 6 great prophets to even get the first 6 levels so yes mass producing them is a good idea. Just settle the rest as you will need it to build the last part...
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
It can be built in any city (at least the first one can; the others have to be n the same city. If you lose the city with the Altar you can rebuild it elsewhere).
You need to generate lots of Great Prophet Points. There are several wonders that provide them, as do priest specialists. Temples, wonders, holy shrines, and the altars themselves allow assigning priests, and the Theology Civic allows unlimited priests in all cities. Some wonders, buildings, and civics effect GPP generation, as does the Philosophical trait. I don't think there is a tech that grants a free great prophet though.
Reading the warscript, it looks like it is only Evil aligned civs that declare war on you, and only if they are not already at war with someone else. They declare war when you have the 5th or 6th level. Of course, other civs are then likely to dogpile you, declaring war for no other reason than that it seems like a popular decision. Aggressive AI makes this more likely The Elohim will never join a dog pile, while the Balseraphs are very likely to join for no apparent reason..
You need to generate lots of Great Prophet Points. There are several wonders that provide them, as do priest specialists. Temples, wonders, holy shrines, and the altars themselves allow assigning priests, and the Theology Civic allows unlimited priests in all cities. Some wonders, buildings, and civics effect GPP generation, as does the Philosophical trait. I don't think there is a tech that grants a free great prophet though.
Reading the warscript, it looks like it is only Evil aligned civs that declare war on you, and only if they are not already at war with someone else. They declare war when you have the 5th or 6th level. Of course, other civs are then likely to dogpile you, declaring war for no other reason than that it seems like a popular decision. Aggressive AI makes this more likely The Elohim will never join a dog pile, while the Balseraphs are very likely to join for no apparent reason..
Mesix
Obergruppenführer
MagisterCultuum provided a lot of good advice. I would add that I generally build my Altar in a city near my cultural boundaries where I want more culture, not in one of my core cities. It is easy enough to walk the GP to the city to build the Altar. It is also easy enough to walk defenders from the core cities out to my Altar city.
One asdditional tip is that the final stage of the Altar has a long build time. I would try hoarding a few Great Engineers to hurry its production. Obviously hou have different cities with Engineer Specialists and wonders that provide GP points for Engineers separate from the cities that are pumping out your Great Prophets. This is also a good tip if you are planning to build the Tower of Master for another victory method.
One asdditional tip is that the final stage of the Altar has a long build time. I would try hoarding a few Great Engineers to hurry its production. Obviously hou have different cities with Engineer Specialists and wonders that provide GP points for Engineers separate from the cities that are pumping out your Great Prophets. This is also a good tip if you are planning to build the Tower of Master for another victory method.
Cuteunit
Danse Macabre
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- Sep 5, 2007
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I kind of wish the bonuses stacked, personally. At least some of them. Six GPP for what, 2 happy and +1 hammer? If it wasnt for the somewhat large Disciple exp on the higher ones, I dont know how the altars would be that attractive at all.... I gave up assigning Sages or Engineers or Merchants for that?
It's kind of wierd in mechanic anyways.. you're building an altar of the One God but to assign prophets, you need other religions.. and the grigori, with the onegod worshipping luonnatars, can't even build it right? Havent played grigori in a few weeks..
It's kind of wierd in mechanic anyways.. you're building an altar of the One God but to assign prophets, you need other religions.. and the grigori, with the onegod worshipping luonnatars, can't even build it right? Havent played grigori in a few weeks..
I've never seen the ai civs come after me when I was building the Final Altar like what happens when you go for the Tower of Mastery. Maybe it is like the Magister says, it depends on the civs remaining in the game.
I find it is very easy to get an Altar Victory playing as the Elohim, especially Einion Logos.
As Mesix said, it is great if you have GP Engineers to aid in building the Final Altar. You can get them more easily with ROK/Tablets of Bambur in one of your cities, as well as other Wonders.
Two other good strategies:
1. Don't obsolete your Soldiers of Kilmorph if you have ROK. They are great for hastening the completion of the Final Altar.
2. Time the building of the Tower of Divination so you can use the free tech to get Omniscience. That is the one necessary for building the Final Altar and it can take long to research.
I will also try to specialize with my cities if I can. One for producing military units, Great Commanders, etc., One for producing Science/Sages, One for producing Great Engineers, and one for Great Prophets and the Altars. It isn't always easy to do during a game, but if you can, it makes the Altar Victory one of the easiest ways to win the game IMO.
xienwolf
Deity
Altar effects DO stack from level to level. It just doesn't show you as having each of them in the city. At the final (non-winning) level, you will be getting 3 hammers per assigned priest specialist and have quite a bit of happy bonus to spread around. The extra exp for the disciples winds up being a minor effect compared to the others 
My personal preference is to run a couple of engineers along with my priests in any city that has spare specialist slots. Since the engineers will wind up being stored to wait for final altar, I don't really care when I get them, and the extra points mean shorter wait times between GP production. But then again, I often wind up making new Great Priests faster than I can research the tech to allow the next level of altar.
My personal preference is to run a couple of engineers along with my priests in any city that has spare specialist slots. Since the engineers will wind up being stored to wait for final altar, I don't really care when I get them, and the extra points mean shorter wait times between GP production. But then again, I often wind up making new Great Priests faster than I can research the tech to allow the next level of altar.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
Altar effects do not stack, but each level provides the effect of the previous one, plus some. I know, because I have often cheated by giving myself multiple levels of the altar at a time, in worldbuilder.
