Does anyone reach Buddhism first?

ported

Chieftain
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May 30, 2005
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I have yet to do it... noble difficulty, spiritual/philisophical civ (whichever gives you the previous tech), 100% research, full throttle.

I know that unlike previous Civ games, you are not always the first player to move. I guess this and your starting location may be key. I was just wondering if anyone else has been able to found Buddhism, because I gave up and now go for Hinduism each time. Is the only way to reach Buddhism first to be lucky enough to move first?
 
Well, it all depends on how much gold you can get in the first few turns. If you start next to a special resource with a commerce bonus, that extra bit o' gold might well be the key to getting it.
Alternatively, you can just manually choose the AI leaders, and get those without mysticism as a starting tech, but that's kinda cheating...
 
Ok, I'm encouraged to keep trying then. I have no other motivation for doing so, other than the fact I am getting annoyed with the Hindu improvement music :).
 
I have, depends on you civ and start, as well as difficulty level. Having a coastal food bonus helps. Starting with Mysticm is almost a must at higher levels. You can get all 7. I have only done it on settler though. Current game I have 6 of 7, also on settler (Using to this game to see how long it takes to conquer the world.)
 
Stroll over to the Sucessiongames forum and look at the Game RB1

There you will see that Sirian and Sulla not only got Buddhism first but also Hinduism and all the other religions exept Taoism and that on Prince.
 
Founding your city on turn 1 is probably a big help (presumably the AI always does this). Having extra commerce (from a river, for example) in your starting area probably helps. Having opponent civs that don't start with mysticism is probably a huge help.

I did it once (on noble). Haven't tried since, since Hinduism is a virtual lock if you start with mysticism.
 
I started one game as the Aztecs I believe (I had Mysticism) and was able to grab Buddhism, Hinduhism AND Judaism!

This was on a Noble game also.

I got wiped away shortly thereafter, so it wasn't a good game.
 
Put ur first guy working a square with gold, even if it gives less food.
 
I usually reach Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity ALL first of all civs in my games now and I play on Prince.

In one game I even got all religions except Islam, but noone else had Islam either, just that my neighbours crushed me military wise since I was not very powerful. :P

Having many religions was much more powerful then I first imagined when I started playing. It gives u much higher control over how much culture you can get, money income gets increased if you have the holy cities, etc.


How do I get almost all the religions you ask? Well, I start by researching Meditation, I aim for as much wealth as possible in the cities and dismiss any production at first and prioritize growth and gold. Immediatelly after I research Polytheism, and maximize gold for research in town. Dont mind production still. And after that I go straight for Monotheism, unless I really need some tech to improve my surroundings. If you get Polytheism first, you usually get Monotheism first aswell if you go for it.

Once I get Monotheism I go for worker related techs depending on my surroundings, I make a worker and then a settler if I havnt already, and I build the Stonehenge, and then I go for Priesthood and go for Writing. I Build the Oracle and take Theology and get Christianity.

Now its also possible to get confucianism if you have enough gold output, usually you have to build a Library or two before that is a viable tech to research though. It really helps to have Gold resource within city radius or a coastal start with a finacial civ for research speed.

If you get Both christianity and confucianism first of all, you can usually get Philosophy and Taoism first aswell.

And if you do, you can probably get Divine Right and Islam first of all aswell.


Having many religions means power, wealth, happiness and culture. You can build many temples and monestaries and many of those +50% Culture buildings (Cathedrals etc) that are VERY important for the Cultural victory that has become my favourite way to win in Civ4 atm.

When I play like this I always end up with a lack of military units though, so its important to watch out for aggressive opponents, and try to build up defenses when you can.
 
Rowain deWolf said:
Stroll over to the Sucessiongames forum and look at the Game RB1

There you will see that Sirian and Sulla not only got Buddhism first but also Hinduism and all the other religions exept Taoism and that on Prince.

However that points out the key factors
1. They had Mysticism (Spain)
2. They started on a lake (extra commerce)
3. They got Masonry from a Hut (allowing a quick jump to Judaism)


2 and 3 are the luck factors.
 
ported said:
I have yet to do it... noble difficulty, spiritual/philisophical civ (whichever gives you the previous tech), 100% research, full throttle.

I know that unlike previous Civ games, you are not always the first player to move. I guess this and your starting location may be key. I was just wondering if anyone else has been able to found Buddhism, because I gave up and now go for Hinduism each time. Is the only way to reach Buddhism first to be lucky enough to move first?


Have read it doesn't make a difference, but does for me....Ensure to select meditation to research on your first turn and don't wait until the second turn until the computer prompts you to choose a tech to research. 3 or 4 games in a row I was beaten to Buddhism by a turn...and couldn't figure out why. (starting with Aztecs with mysticism). Once I started selecting meditation manually on my first turn, I've got everytime. Again, some say it doesn't matter, but sure seems like it to me.
 
Silt said:
Have read it doesn't make a difference, but does for me....Ensure to select meditation to research on your first turn and don't wait until the second turn until the computer prompts you to choose a tech to research. 3 or 4 games in a row I was beaten to Buddhism by a turn...and couldn't figure out why. (starting with Aztecs with mysticism). Once I started selecting meditation manually on my first turn, I've got everytime. Again, some say it doesn't matter, but sure seems like it to me.

I don't think it matters. I moused over meditation on the first turn and it told me 16 turns, but I waited to select until it popped up next turn and it said 15. That said, the best strategy to get an early religion is simply to switch your first citizen in your capital to working the largest gold producing square. If you don't have one in your city radius, you're out of luck.

-NE
 
I actually played a Noble game where I FIRST researched Polytheism and got Hinduism and then - since noone else had picked up Buddhism yet - went on to snatch up Meditation/Buddhism and Monotheism/Judaism. A while later I also snatched Theology/Christianity, although I wasn't really going for that.

I'm pretty sure I could have easily wrapped the rest of the religion techs, but I decided to go war some instead =)
 
I'm on Noble, non-spiritual civ, and have founded Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. So it is possible.
 
CiverDan said:
I have, depends on you civ and start, as well as difficulty level. Having a coastal food bonus helps. Starting with Mysticm is almost a must at higher levels. You can get all 7. I have only done it on settler though. Current game I have 6 of 7, also on settler (Using to this game to see how long it takes to conquer the world.)
I've managed to get all 7 religions on Noble but I had a little help. Early in the game I got two free settlers from goody huts very close to my capital. First thing I research was meditation and I got it but with the extra two cities I ensured that I got Poly and Monotheism by maximizing their gold intake. The cities initally grew slowly because I was focusing on good ole money but once I had those 3 religions and 3 cities while the AI still only had 1 city I turned my focus to worker techs such as agriculture and animal husbandry and the game was basically over. I kept my borders closed and placed cities to block the AI. The religions began spreading on their own until I had all the land I wanted and then I opened up the borders and ensured budhism was everywhere. Don't want anyone hating me for my heathen religion. Cultural victory here I come.:goodjob:
 
On noble and whatever the difficulty above it is called I have usually managed to get Buddhism as long as I start with mysticism. I've never managed to get the full set of religions yet, since I tend to leave the techs for Confucianism and Taoism for quite a while.
 
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