Christianity

[Chazcon]

I find that the AI grabs all the early religions, and so I tend to go for Christianity in order to get a holy city - worth going after, or should I just pick an existing religion and forget about trying to found 'my own'?

 

[AndersenDK]

In a lot of ways, Christianity comes to late in the game, to get a real influence without a aggresive spreading by the player/founder.

The perfect religion in my games seems to be Judaism. It comes on a time where the empires have expanded a bit, and the civs might be placed a little closer, making it easier to spread.

But back to the question..

No, if I dont get Hinduisme, Buddhisme or Judaisme, then I dont bother founding my own.

 

[Toshiro126]

For a while, I used to get Christianity all the time. I liked getting the extra money from founding it. After a few games where I learned how to build my wealth better (mostly by using cottages), I didn't go for Christianity and found I didn't miss the race to reach it first. It found freed me up to follow different techs, and got me out of the rut of follow the same tech path each game.

 

[Black Waltz]

You may think about going a different route. If I remember, Christianity still requires you to get a lot of the religeous techs. Maybe a better idea would be to beeline for Code of Laws for Confucism. Taoism is around that research path too. So while you get alphabet and all the nice science friendly top tech path. The AI can waste their time with the lower which you can trade for at a later date.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

It depends, Christianity is worth getting if you can grab it with a Prophet (which you can't do for CoL usually)
Otherwise Confucianism is the worthwhile one because it has more 'other' benefits.. Courthouses, Caste System (leads to Civil Service and a number of other Techs..Theology only leads to Divine Right)
The exception would be if you are playing as a Warmonger in which case you want Theocracy first then courthouses next.

So if you have a Prophet sitting around (from Stonehenge, Oracle, or Preists) about the time you get Monotheism and Writing, Or you intend to go Warlike, get yourself Christianity. Otherwise Go for Confucianism.

 

[Caradoc]

Depending on which Wonders you want, you may find yourself on the road to an early religion even if that's not a priority. I like the Parthenon, so I'm going to have Polytheism and probably Masonry for the Marble, so why not continue on to Monotheism and pick up Judaism?

Otherwise, Taoism is my target because of Pacifism.

 

[Crighton]

My $.02

Don't bother with trying to found religions, merely focus instead on the capture and absorbtion of the dominant religion (usually Hinduism or buddism, occaisionally Judaism). This way the shrine is aleady there from teh ai and you get teh beneftis. Particularly in the diplo bonus from brothers and sisters in faith, sometimes not the most logical bonus, but why look a gifthorsey in the mouth.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

My $.02

Don't bother with trying to found religions, merely focus instead on the capture and absorbtion of the dominant religion (usually Hinduism or buddism, occaisionally Judaism). This way the shrine is aleady there from teh ai and you get teh beneftis. Particularly in the diplo bonus from brothers and sisters in faith, sometimes not the most logical bonus, but why look a gifthorsey in the mouth.

Well that depnds on how much of a warmonger one is and how accessible the other religions are

ie on a continents game if one of your neighbors founds one (or more) sure. but if your neighbors aren't particularly spiritual, you may end up invading before they get one (this also works if you are alone.)

On a Pangea map there is a similar problem, the Holy Cities may not be easily accessible (requiring lots of Open Borders to reach)

 

[bob rulz]

Confucianism, Buddhism, or Hinduism are usually the dominant religions in my games. I usually end up getting Confucianism.

 

[ownedbyakorat]

The only way you should get Christianity is with a Prophet. Of course if you are beating the pants off the AI in research you can do that but you've won then already.

 

[jimbob27]

I've had a few game where christianity spread around loads. It was in a game where I founded hinduism, and then destroyed the buddist holy city. I spread my religion to a few other civs.... but then france founded christianity, and spread it to about 5 other civs who all adopted it and spread it about.

The whole game turned into "christians vs hindus" for the rest of history. Hindu's won. I got angry at the end, and declared war on all the christian civs, and then razed the christian holy city

 

[ElJoepo]

I'd say it's worth going after if you got a great prophet coming up. You should plan this many turns ahead. The selling of the theocracy to AI civs certainly can be a nice benefit. It's also nice to use it for your own, in combo with barracks you can get some real nice warriors pumping out. Just in time to start the holy crusade against those heathen neighbours. Please be warned about neighbouring civs, while the first few turns after the revolution nothing might happen.. They are always plotting against you if you just founded a religion, so keep an eye on your borders and holy city.
I suggest you use the holy messenger for your own city, probably the best 'hammer' city. This way you can spread out quicker.
I wouldn't call it 'worth it', especially if you play more difficult than monarch and have earlier religions surrounding you. But it certainly should make an intresting game (unless you already have trouble struggling around). I also like the sound of a city turning christian...

 

[Diceclock]

Christianity is for people who raced to Judism and lost by a few turns.