First missionary question

[Slax]

Hi, long time civ player, first time civ IV player....

I have my free Islamic missionary, having not founded any other religions so far. Some of my cities have adopted Judaism, which has basically spread to every foreign city on the continent (2 other civs). I have no knowledge of the other civs on the map.

Since not all of my own cities have adopted Islam (which I founded), am I better off using my missionary to spread it to one of my own cities without religion, or is there more advantage to taking it to an enemy city, where it will have to 'compete' against other religions to spread into the city?

 

[LlamaCat]

Are you religious ... have you converted to Islam? If you are not religious or any other religion, there is no benefit to yourself to use the missionary at all. I usually ignore the free missionary I get from founding a religion unless I convert to that religion.

If you are converted, I would always convert my own cities first because you can then switch into civics that will give you benefits. If you convert foreign cities, you can see what units are in those cities for spying purposes, but again only if you are converted to that religion. You could also get potential diplomatic bonuses but that's probably way down the road in your game and it just depends on the specific situations in your game.

 

[Morgrad]

I usually just settle him in my capital for the +1 happy when I switch to free religion.

I guess my main question it: why did you research Divine Right?

 

[Cam_H]

You can build an Islamic Temple, Monastery, and possibly a Mosque in the city that you spread the religion to (provided it does spread successfully by the Missionary attempt). The Temple will provide extra happiness and culture, the Monastery will provide extra science, culture, and the capacity to build Islamic Missionaries, while the Mosque may provide extra happiness and will provide a culture multiplier.

As Morgrad notes, you'll get happiness from Free Religion if you spread the faith. Futhermore you'll get culture from either Paganism or Free Religion or by converting to Islam.

The chance that your Missionary will successfully spread Islam is slightly better in your own cities than in foreign cities. The more faiths a city has, the less chance that Islam in this instance will spread successfully.

 

[The Tyrant]

I always use the free missionary to spread the religion in my own empire, even if my state religion is different. Having multiple cities that can produce missionaries allows for quicker spreading of that religion - useful for income if you build that religion's shrine.

What I would not do is use the free missionary in a city that doesn't have any religion yet. I want my state religion to have the greatest chance to spread and religions only naturally spread to cities that don't have any religion yet. If you use the missionary in a city that doesn't have any religion yet, then you effectively block the possibility of your state religion spreading to that city naturally.

 

[Slax]

So the idea is take the later religion (Islam) and spread it around. Then change your state religion to the new one?

With the building of new temples to the new religion, will the old temples still give the same bonuses when they are not for the state religion?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Yes, every temple gives +1 happiness regardless of state religion (you don't even need a state religion). +2 happy from a cathedral is state religion only though.

 

[InFlux5]

There are many options for the free missionary. Here are some examples:

-Save him. Send him with a Settler to a new area and immediately spread into the city. This gives you a border pop after 10 turns.
-Put him in the capital. This allows another temple, maybe another monastery, and more happiness with Free Religion.
-Send him to enemy territory. Missionaries make a good scout. And there are two reasons you might want to spread it there: for spying purposes (requires you to convert) or for income if you plan to build the shrine for that religion. And still another reason is that if the other civ doesn't have a religion yet, they will convert as soon as you spread it. (But usually the AI will nab some religion or other.)

So the idea is take the later religion (Islam) and spread it around. Then change your state religion to the new one?

No. There is rarely any reason to convert to a later religion if you already have one. The earlier religion will be more widespread, so for the purposes of your official religion you should stay with it.

Late religions are good for other things, like cultural victories. They are also good for diplomacy - if you can get one of your religions to be the most widespread in an enemy's empire, they will probably convert.

So in short: for purposes of your state religion and the benefits it confers, one religion is enough. Multiple religions offer other strategic advantages.