Do you build monastaries?

[Woobi]

They give 10% science and the ability to build missionaries. They also crap out at Scientific Method I believe.

Obviously whenever I have the wonder for a religion I have a monastery and a city pumping out missionaries to get my 1 gpt. However, I rarely build them otherwise; sometimes, not even in my science cities. I just find I usually have better things to build and I don't like the fact that they are useless before long.

What about everyone else? Am I missing out on a great building?

 

[Loki Strikes]

If I have the AP religion in my cities I will put up temples and monasteries basically everywhere for the free hammers, if I don't have the AP religion I may put one in a hammer city to spread the religion I am in if someone hasn't done that for me or if I have a SSC I may build one or more monastery in that city, I tend to shy away from founding early religions myself as the hammers are better invested elsewhere.

 

[mariogreymist]

I like to build them in a Bureau capital. Such a city can crank out missionaries fast, and benefits greatly from the 10% science bonus.

 

[drlake]

I'll build them under the same conditions as already noted: to build missionaries, if they are in the AP religion, and in a bureaucracy capital. In VERY rare conditions, I'll also build them for the culture in cities that need every culture I can scrape together.

I find myself not building religious buildings very much these days, until quite late in the game.

 

[whats a navy]

I build them if I'm going for culture win and I'm not running OR but instead pacifism.

 

[Woobi]

Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know how much that 10% research is really worth when compared to the hammers it takes to make the monastery?

 

[kossin]

Hammer investment wise for 1% extra research:

Library(3.6 ) > Oxford(4 ) > Seowon(5.71 ) > Monastery(6 ) = Observatory(6 ) > University(8 ) > Laboratory(10 )

Of course it changes a bit with:

Stone: Oxford(2 )
Industrious: Oxford(2.66 )
Stone+Industrious: Oxford(1.6 )
Creative: Library(1.8 )
Philosophical: University(4)

Then you have to consider other factors (Research Institute, Madrassa...) but overall they're often worth building as they're pretty cheap and provide good culture. It's even better with Organized Religion or Forges (80% of the cost and with both it's only 66%).

Basically, I build them before Universities in the non top 6 cities if I don't expect to complete Scientific Method anytime soon.

 

[drlake]

Hammer investment wise for 1% extra research:

Library(3.6 ) > Oxford(4 ) > Seowon(5.71 ) > Monastery(6 ) = Observatory(6 ) > University(8 ) > Laboratory(10 )

Of course it changes a bit with:

Stone: Oxford(2 )
Industrious: Oxford(2.66 )
Stone+Industrious: Oxford(1.6 )
Creative: Library(1.8 )
Philosophical: University(4)

Then you have to consider other factors (Research Institute, Madrassa...) but overall they're often worth building as they're pretty cheap and provide good culture. It's even better with Organized Religion or Forges (80% of the cost and with both it's only 66%).

Basically, I build them before Universities in the non top 6 cities if I don't expect to complete Scientific Method anytime soon.

Very nice, thanks! You just shifted my impression of the value of Monasteries...

 

[Sydney Posada]

Hammer investment wise for 1% extra research:

Library(3.6 ) > Oxford(4 ) > Seowon(5.71 ) > Monastery(6 ) = Observatory(6 ) > University(8 ) > Laboratory(10 )

Of course it changes a bit with:

Stone: Oxford(2 )
Industrious: Oxford(2.66 )
Stone+Industrious: Oxford(1.6 )
Creative: Library(1.8 )
Philosophical: University(4)

Then you have to consider other factors (Research Institute, Madrassa...) but overall they're often worth building as they're pretty cheap and provide good culture. It's even better with Organized Religion or Forges (80% of the cost and with both it's only 66%).

Basically, I build them before Universities in the non top 6 cities if I don't expect to complete Scientific Method anytime soon.

Awesome, thanks. Nothing like cold hard numbers to change one's opinion.

If not for Oxford, Universities are kind of a bum deal, aren't they? Well, I guess you're also limited in what science modifiers there are, so you'll probably end up building it in any decent science town anyway. But good to see that they can be the very last science building to get, if you've already got the Oxford requirement done.

 

[Udey1]

yes I always build them if there is a reason/time. Its another percentage stacker plain and simple

 

[fed1943]

Great work!
Monateries, more precisely missionaries, can help diplomacy or/and gold.

 

[Dr.Null]

If I'm not Creative, then the Monastery is my go-to building for

 

[Woobi]

Kossin that was perfect! Thanks so much. I never realized that they were better than universities. I certainly will build them more often than I have been. However, everyone also has to realize that although the science buildings that come out later need more hammers, you also have more hammers per city at that point due to late civics, buildings, etc.

 

[Zx Zero Zx]

There are certain times when they are worth it. But are best when they are the AP religion. In the OCC they are amazing as you need all the Science Modifiers you can get pre Bio.

 

[Manco Capac]

Usually, I invest my hammers in monasteries if I have access to three or four religions. With access of seven religions, a boost of 70% is nice in a science city. The only matter is I tend to avoid Scientific Method then to keep these multipliers last long.

 

[NonPrayinMantis]

Thanks to roundoff loss, monasteries are even better:

A scientist specialist gives 3 beakers, and multiplied by a library's 25% = 3.75 which becomes rounded off to 3.

A monastery adds 10% to the 25% making 3 beakers become 4.05 which rounds off to 4.

NPM

 

[Galadrion]

The other thing to consider: the Sistine Chapel. Suddenly, instead of 2/turn, it's 7. Likewise, the Apostolic Palace, the Spiral Minaret, and the Library of Sankore will all add various effects to state religious buildings - if you get any of these wonders, much less most or all of them, you should be spamming your state religion in every one of your cities, and spamming all of the buildings for it in each of them (subject to cathedral limitations, of course).

Also, remember that any building which has been there for 1,000 years gets a culture bonus, even if the building goes obsolete. Build those monasteries earlier if you can, it'll pay back the effort over time.

 

[Sydney Posada]

The other thing to consider: the Sistine Chapel. Suddenly, instead of 2/turn, it's 7. Likewise, the Apostolic Palace, the Spiral Minaret, and the Library of Sankore will all add various effects to state religious buildings - if you get any of these wonders, much less most or all of them, you should be spamming your state religion in every one of your cities, and spamming all of the buildings for it in each of them (subject to cathedral limitations, of course).

Also, remember that any building which has been there for 1,000 years gets a culture bonus, even if the building goes obsolete. Build those monasteries earlier if you can, it'll pay back the effort over time.

Unless they're border cities or you're going for a cultural victory, though, most of that culture is pretty much a waste. Science and hammers are cool, however.

 

[kossin]

Thanks to roundoff loss, monasteries are even better:

A scientist specialist gives 3 beakers, and multiplied by a library's 25% = 3.75 which becomes rounded off to 3.

A monastery adds 10% to the 25% making 3 beakers become 4.05 which rounds off to 4.

NPM

Actually BTS doesn't round off that much, it keeps 2 decimals.

Unless they're border cities or you're going for a cultural victory, though, most of that culture is pretty much a waste. Science and hammers are cool, however.

If you have contested tiles, getting that extra border pop from a city away can save the day... Otherwise it's pretty useless yes.

 

[Udey1]

edit.