Atheist victory

[vormuir]

I'm sure someone has done this already, but... has anyone written up an Atheist victory?

Parameters: you can't have a state religion. You can't build any religious buildings -- no temples, monasteries or cathedrals. You act like religion doesn't exist; if some of your cities get religion by accident, you ignore it.

You can build all the Wonders except for shrines.

You can't have priest specialists, ever.

Has anyone tried this?


Waldo

 

[jimbob27]

Hmmm... I'm interested too.

And dual-map-conquest win's don't count.

 

[davelisowski]

I've played games through the 16 or 1700s without any religion at all. If you get stuck on a continent, eliminate the AI there, and the other AI are discovering all the religions, then you miss out on religion for a long time.

I think you can run into happiness problems easily, and quickly. No priest specialists would be rough.

 

[Nares]

It's probably not excessively difficult to play an aetheist game. The key would be controlling Happiness through resources such as Wine (Monarchy) and Dyes (Calendar), and making Drama(Theaters) and Construction (Colosseums) a semi-priority. The latter two buildings will provide a great deal of Happiness depending on where you set your Cultural slider (probably far more Happiness than you'll get out of religions, even at as low as 20%). Additionally, Theaters provide additional +1 Happiness to Dyes.

As for losing Priests, I don't see that to be much of a problem. You need either a heavy investment in infrastructure (namely, you need multiple religions per city for multiple Temples per city in order to run multiple Priests, or you need Shrines, or you need Angkor Wat, or any combination of the above). The hammers/commerce they provide can be easily duplicated elsewhere (probably to greater effect, with the exception of Priests under Angkor Wat, The Sistine Chapel and the Representation civic).

You may want to build The Pyramids for earlier Hereditary Rule (+1 Happiness per troop per city) and Representation (+2 Happiness per top five cities). Seeing as you'll be looking at an early Hereditary Rule anyway (Monarchy, aka Wineries), you could even skip The Pyramids and still do fine. Additionally, you can switch to Nationhood (+2 Happiness per city with a Barracks) later on.

I think the hardest parts of such a game are going to be making sure to not discover a religion (crazy, huh, that you'd have to actively attempt to not discover one), and putting up with the eventual (constant, I'd think) requests to convert to a religion.

 

[DaveMcW]

I play most of my games athiest-style. The religious buildings are too expensive compared to other stuff I could be building. The civics are nice but not required. The only thing I would miss is the cheap culture in new cities.

 

[Zombie69]

I play most of my games athiest-style. The religious buildings are too expensive compared to other stuff I could be building. The civics are nice but not required. The only thing I would miss is the cheap culture in new cities.

Same here. My games are played without any religion for the most part, unless i'm spiritual.

 

[kamigawan]

I'll second Zombie. For non spiritual leader's I usually have no state religion ever, and then get liberalism ASAP (free religion, among other things).

I'll add that for spiritual leaders, I make full use of religion whenever possible - all three religious civics, great prophets, missionaries, etc. By mid game I'll often change religious civics every 5 turns.

One thing I don't understand is priest specialists. I've never used them and I don't see any use, since usually you get great prophets from either oracle or stonehenge early on (plus one or two by accident later). What's the use?

 

[GABB]

Tip: Trade for Theology and adopt Theocracy with No state of religion and you will never see a religion in your cities. In case of captured cities... ... ...raze to erase religion of your world...

 

[GABB]

I'll second Zombie. For non spiritual leader's I usually have no state religion ever, and then get liberalism ASAP (free religion, among other things).

I'll add that for spiritual leaders, I make full use of religion whenever possible - all three religious civics, great prophets, missionaries, etc. By mid game I'll often change religious civics every 5 turns.

One thing I don't understand is priest specialists. I've never used them and I don't see any use, since usually you get great prophets from either oracle or stonehenge early on (plus one or two by accident later). What's the use?

With Angkor Wat, They are engineer with +1 ...

 

[vilemerchant]

How about an atheist conquest victory where you raze all the holy cities

 

[Still_Asleep]

With Angkor Wat, They are engineer with +1 ...

That doesnt make it impossible or even hard to play without them. I only build Angkor Wat when I am really bored, and only use Priest when I need a great prophet for a shrine otherwise.

Atheist games just seem to happen sometimes. I switched to free religion without ever having a state religion more than once.

 

[theimmortal1]

Only problem with this is the automation usually puts priests in some of my cities. I do specialize, but once I start getting tons of cities I stop specializing every city. Just the few main ones.

 

[GABB]

That doesnt make it impossible or even hard to play without them. I only build Angkor Wat when I am really bored, and only use Priest when I need a great prophet for a shrine otherwise.

Atheist games just seem to happen sometimes. I switched to free religion without ever having a state religion more than once.

I Agree. I'm not saying that "is impossible" without it, but is the best use of Priest (with Angkor Wat + Sistine + Representation) = +2 / +1 / + 2 per priest...

 

[Gherald]

I'd miss the culture and theocracy/pacifism, but this sort of game would not be difficult. Catherine is probably the best leader for it.

 

[soulja173]

I've seen many ppl die when they research religion first rather than bronze working, and I agree pretty easy being Atheist, if your Civ just took out 20 million people and razed the city to the ground, I don't think God would be too happy.

 

[actionmedia]

Only problem with this is the automation usually puts priests in some of my cities

There is no problem. No temples, no shrines, no cathedrals, means no priests.

 

[cabert]

I Agree. I'm not saying that "is impossible" without it, but is the best use of Priest (with Angkor Wat + Sistine + Representation) = +2 / +1 / + 2 per priest...

you forgot 3 beakers (representation) : nice way to produce things in big food cities IMHO (engineers are rare)

About atheist, the only problem would be to go for cultural.
Everything else is ok.

I already did a whole game without state religion. I had priest all over however and shrines and temples.

 

[Ballisto]

I routinely do games without a state religion (Prince level). When I don't found a religion, I end up getting a hodge podge of religions across my empire. Since a state religion and religious civic would only help a couple cities, I don't bother with a state religion.

I think the biggest issue would be culture... and losing 10-20% (or more) of your commerce to keep your citizens happy.

 

[Sohan]

I tried it, and it's definitely possible. I especially avoid early religions, mainly 'cause there are more worthwhile techs available.

However, I don't plan on doing it again. Founding a religion is relatively easy to do (I tend to get Judaism or Confucianism before the AI) and the diplomatic benefits, as well as the extra happiness and culture and wealth (if I have that oh-so special building) are too good to pass up. When dealing with people like Isabella I try my best to convert them, and it works out pretty well. It's nice having an ally to depend on. Then again, it's also backfired before. For a culture victory, it's a must.

 

[gunkulator]

I'm a big fan of Organized Religion. It's essentially a free forge/factory in every city that is building improvements plus you can spread your state religion easily since you don't need monasteries for missionaries. Very helpful to get those granaries, courthouses, barracks, libraries, markets, lighthouses, and forges up and running asap.

For mid game wars, I like Nationhood for drafting, low upkeep and easy happiness from barracks. But if I use Nationhood, I can't use Vassalage so that leaves Theocracy as the only way to get two promotions for a new unit.