Does anyone ever skip religion completely?

[MrCynical]

Beyond lots of superspecialists or conglomerations of resources that simply don't appear on maps, I'm not sure it's possible to get 100 hammers pre-modifiers.

 

[indeliblemerson]

Does anyone out there ever just not choose a religion until Free Religion comes along? ....

I am still learning but today I made a minor break through by winning. I won a victory without cheating; not using the world builder. I was playing as the Celtic civ.

I have been playing on the lower level, (chieftain and noble levels) and if I am using a charismatic civ, then I try to found as many religions as I can. My first win was on Chieftain Level by domination. I founded all 7 religions. It seems to me that the bonus’ are well worth the effort at least on the lower levels.

 

[bassist2119]

I am still learning but today I made a minor break through by winning. I won a victory without cheating; not using the world builder. I was playing as the Celtic civ.

I have been playing on the lower level, (chieftain and noble levels) and if I am using a charismatic civ, then I try to found as many religions as I can. My first win was on Chieftain Level by domination. I founded all 7 religions. It seems to me that the bonus’ are well worth the effort at least on the lower levels.

Welcome to the forum indeliblemerson! I usually find charismatic to be the exact opposite; a way to forgoe religion w/o the happiness drop.

 

[Shillen]

Won't that get expensive though, if you have a lot of cities?

Eh, I'm not saying to put 5 units in each city. After all religion only adds +2 happiness with a temple. Two units in each city on an island start isn't going to give you unit costs and will be a huge boost in the happiness department. Hereditary rule shouldn't always be used, but on a low-happiness island start it's pretty important (unless you build pyramids).

 

[Qwack]

I dont adopt a state religion in atleast 40% of my games. Its around 50% on emperor + and something like 15% on monarch -... Couple reasons, #1, improved diplomatic relations. #2, if you capture cities with religions in them, its better to not have a state religion so thier borders will expand by themselves. Basically, I have found that the happiness bonus from state religion is not that great, the real bonuses come with the civic's, but all of them have alot of upkeep, so I find myself skipping over them quite a bit as well.

 

[neferator]

In a few games I avoided religion, and regretted it. I hugely appreciate the extra gold you get from the special religious building (the one you get from a Great Prophet + holy city). In my current game I have the Islamic and Hindu holy cities (right next to each other), and before I went to Free Religion fairly recently, they were present in about 40% of the globe, between them.

One thing I'm not sure of. Do you still get the gold bonus from those special buildings after you go to Free Religion? I'm really not sure...

 

[MrCynical]

Yes, you get the gold regardless of whether you're running the religion as a state religion, or indeed whether you have a state religion at all. Therefore the shrine gold isn't an incentive to run a state religion.

 

[neferator]

Ah really? That's useful to know, actually... thanks

 

[Wodan]

By the time I had nine cities, my citizens were unhappy, my treasury was bare, my city costs were atrocious, and I had no way out because my research into Theater was crawling along too. Fortunately, I was "discovered" in about 1500, other civs spread their religion to me, and I could pacify my populace and tech-trade my way to a space-race victory. But it was scary there for a couple of centuries...

For happiness:
Hereditary Rule
Slavery
Prioritize Theatres, Colosseums, and/or Plantations early on (as soon as you realize happiness is going to be an issue)

For research:
Build research in most cities
Run scientists (go into hybrid SE mode)

Wodan

 

[BCLG100]

If I have a lot of happy resources then I will often not choose a religion on emperor+. First of all, I'm not going to found any of them so the shrine is out of the question unless I capture one from an AI. Second, it's too important to be able to trade techs with every AI in order to keep up, so having low relations with even 2 civs is costly. And third, I don't have to spend resources spreading the religion around or waste anarchy turns changing to the religion and changing religious civics.

quoted as that is what i do, current gotm ive refrained from religion.

 

[flytyer]

I've always founded at least 1 religion for sake of monetary reward

 

[Andraeianus I]

It can be worthwhile to choose a religion in order to manage diplomatic relations on emperor. In my current game (Churchill on Emperor) I have founded Hinduism and after beating up the judaist Hannibal this gave me two shrines. But now I have chosen islam (of which I don't have the shrine) as a state religion in order to improve relations with the strong neighbouring Celts. Together with organized religion as a civic this boosts relations a lot! I don't care about the diplomatic malus to the other weaker civs a lot and try to keep them in hand by choosing their preferred civics and by trading.

Mind you: I am having longbows and the Celts are having riflemen and cavalry; so to be close friends is of paramount importance. At the same time they are my insurance for other civs that may contemplate attacking me.

By the time I have redcoats he will be having infantry which will be more of a match; so then I may contemplate switching to free religion (which will cause me to loose the diplomatic bonus of both the shared religion and organized religion). So I should be careful.

There is a dutch saying: Better a good neighbour than a faraway friend.

 

[Paeanblack]

There is a hidden benefit to not choosing a religion: automatic border expansion. Eventually some religion will spread to the city once it has trade, and this usually happens pretty quickly once 5-6 religions and a few shrines are in the game. With Paganism, any religion will produce +1 culture. If you've picked a state religion, you need to get lucky or send a missionary to get the bonus.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

There is a hidden benefit to not choosing a religion: automatic border expansion. Eventually some religion will spread to the city once it has trade, and this usually happens pretty quickly once 5-6 religions and a few shrines are in the game. With Paganism, any religion will produce +1 culture. If you've picked a state religion, you need to get lucky or send a missionary to get the bonus.

One note: It's not just with the paganism civic. Not having a state religion is what gets you the bonus culture from all your religions at the same time. Of course, not having a state religion with Organized religion and Theocracy civics will drastically reduce the benefit of those two civics.

 

[Paeanblack]

One note: It's not just with the paganism civic. Not having a state religion is what gets you the bonus culture from all your religions at the same time. Of course, not having a state religion with Organized religion and Theocracy civics will drastically reduce the benefit of those two civics.

They actually won't give you any benefits at all, but will cost you more money.

Organized Religion is hellaciously expensive to run if you aren't set up to take complete advantage of it, and Theocracy will stop religions from spreading to your cities. Pacifism will still be more expensive than Paganism with anything but a woefully inadequate military.

Going straight from Paganism to Free Religion is a safe and effective play, and is generally the best move if you haven't made a strong effort to affect the spread of religions. Picking a state religion gets tricky diplomatically, and the civics will drain your bank account in a hurry.

 

[brianbenedict]

I am skipping religion in my current game, because I have plenty of happiness, lots of neighbors who have different religions, and I got metal casting fairly quickly (which gives me a production bonus for the slavery bug). Usually, I will found a religion if I start with mysticism, or else get Confucianism on the way to a CS slingshot. It just depends (like most things).

 

[cabert]

well, there are basically only 2 big diplomatic options (not counting careless playing)
1- trying to be noone's worst enemy
2- trying to make one/some good friends

For 1), best move is to stay out of any state religion.
For 2), the religious block is almost required = you often can't be a good friend of an AI if you're not of the same religion.
Of course, the more the game advances, the less it is true, because you had more options (trades, gifts, common war, help in war time, ...), but who needs a friend when the game is over?

 

[RushjobDK]

Generally I think that religion in the early part of the game is overrated. I sometimes play until around 1 AD before converting to the religion of my biggest rival. That's a great insurance!

 

[Skallagrimson]

If I'm a "spiritual" and start with Mysticism I make the run for Buddhism, figuring it's just one tech that I'll need later anyway. If some other Spiritual beats me to Buddhism, I give up the idea of founding a religion and stay religionless until Free Religion, and then I try to spread as much as possible the religion of the weakest AI out there, and supplement with judicious portions of other religions where needed for extra temples, extra monasteries (extra beakers hehe), etc. I don't officially adopt any religion in that case but I spread it.

But when I conquer a holy city I seriously consider a conversion, depending on what kind of a diplomatic hit from it I can afford. (Montezuma especially is not wise to rile up by going against his religion, if he's been typically Montezuma in his early game play and comes to you already owning half the cities on the map!)

 

[Orthodox Warior]

I found at least 2 religions. That helps me alot with building of shrines to have my research rate at 70-100%. Without religion how do you solve money problem?