Aztecs

[SuperNoobCamper]

As an Immortal player who can win but still finds it challenging i think the Aztecs-who are totally mediocre in AI hands are one of the strongest civs in human hands; i can get a pantheon before almost everyone, and even with non faith-heavy pantheons i can usually found first even on Immortal.
Getting golden ages back to back is pretty abusable even with just one or two neighbours (In the current game i have only Egypt in my continent, Morocco in another mini continent alone separated by a crossable sea and the Iroquois in another mini continent alone) by just taking one city and razing it you are guaranteed a +25 war score ...... i have been doing this to Egypt and Morocco from the very start of the game and i have had like 5 or 6 Golden ages (The lapis monopoly made it slightly better) pushing me way ahead (I managed to secure Hanging Gardens, Roman Forum, Terracotta Army, Oracle, Angkor Wat, Haghia Sophia and Notre Dam).

 

[Galva]

As an Immortal player who can win but still finds it challenging i think the Aztecs-who are totally mediocre in AI hands are one of the strongest civs in human hands; i can get a pantheon before almost everyone, and even with non faith-heavy pantheons i can usually found first even on Immortal.
Getting golden ages back to back is pretty abusable even with just one or two neighbours (In the current game i have only Egypt in my continent, Morocco in another mini continent alone separated by a crossable sea and the Iroquois in another mini continent alone) by just taking one city and razing it you are guaranteed a +25 war score ...... i have been doing this to Egypt and Morocco from the very start of the game and i have had like 5 or 6 Golden ages (The lapis monopoly made it slightly better) pushing me way ahead (I managed to secure Hanging Gardens, Roman Forum, Terracotta Army, Oracle, Angkor Wat, Haghia Sophia and Notre Dam).

I totally agree. I normally struggle when playing Immortal but I absolute dominate with Monty. Especially Monty is A+ tier wargod if you are playing with 3rd/4th unique unit mod (props to pineappledan and all others). I allways farm barbs (policy choice is authority ofc) with jaguars and my mission is to upgrade atleast one to eagle. At this moment AI doesnt have walls so city assault eagle can almost 1 hit city. I never stop farming barbs so when my closest neighbour is rekt, I have 2 or 3 upraded eagles. After that I can comfortably take down my second neighbour and usually now I can found my religion. Hero worship is no brainer choice, Orders too. When enchanching I pick thrift and zealatory. Refromation belief is ofc Crusader spirit. War means gold and faith and these mean more units! Cities can buy buildings and develope without worrying about army. It's so easy to snowball when playing like this and oh boy is it damn fun.

 

[Paramecium]

What you mention there is your generic warmonger religion build. Which is probably a pantheon to your liking (God of War), Hero Worship, Veneration, Orders, Zealotry and Crusader Spirits/Defender of the Faith (probably a question of taste and play style).

But especially as the Aztec I think Hero Worship might be quite the overkill. What do you get from it? and points, you are just getting more stuff you already have.
Faith you get from kills anyways, with Orders even more. Golden Age point might get wasted, because if you win a war, it starts a GA anyways, but it increases the cost for the next one.
So your just rise anyways, no need for extra for it.
GG shouldnt be that of a problem if you fight constant wars anyways, with Industrial Era you should have plenty of to buy new ones, too.

Imo Divine Inheritance might be way better, if you manage to stay in a permanent GA, your Capital (or Holy City) has a constant +20% modifier to all its yields, on top of the Golden Age modifier in the first place.

Alternatively you can choose Way of Transcendence. Especially if you might have chosen God of War as a Pantheon and got a good amount of kills, you can manage to found already in the ancient Era. Sure, if you move to Classical Era, you might not have that many of cities already converted, but you can begin spreading your Religion aggressively and getting more and more yields later on, all focused on your capital.

As a Follower and if you really manage to stay in a constant GA, I think Mosque should be better, they give you Science which you are tend to lack and boosts your cities culture during your (permanent) GA.

I dont think that especially Thrift is that needed as Aztec because you already get from kills.

Orders seem fine, but especially if you play with 3/4 Uniques modmod, your special Grand Temple suggests that you build your units in your capital, because only there you get the extra xp.
You will probably have your Heroic Epic there too, so Orders will give you just an extra +15 xp and again on kills, what you already will have. Those 15 xp with the full line of xp buildings and maxed special Grand Temple might give you enough for those juicy level 4 units out of the box.
But I think if you are most likely building your units in just one city, rushing for Cathedral of St. Basil or Brandenburger Gate might be the better choice the have that Follower Belief with sth. else.
Zealotry on the other hand is very good with the Aztec because it frees up your and for your infrastructure.

If you manage to found first I think a good belief for Aztecs is to take Veneration. It buffs a little bit your cities at the beginning, but should not be a problem, so you can spend it and get large amount of extra and , combined with Zealotry your wars just dont pay your units by itself, you get even more out of it.

But in the end it depends your choices and strategy. If you go full domination victory and just want your army to increase in numbers by doing what its doing, its fine. But like I said, I think that especially the Aztec are more free to chose a different religion path as pure warmonger.

So instead of maxing the boni the Aztecs already have to just get a bit better, they can be more powerfull with sth like that:

Pantheon: Start depending, maybe Goddess of Renewal or the no brainer God of War
Founder: Way of Transcendence / Divine Inheritance
1st Follower: Veneration
2nd Follower: Mosques or Orders
Enhancer: Zealotry
Reformation: Crusader Spirit or Defender of the Faith