hecubus
General Specific
Is it best to choose one of the early religions as the one to spread, so you get more time to spread it?
Do you need to found all three of the early religions to give yourself the best chance? If so, how do you ensure getting Buddhism and Hinduism (other than having a freaky gold / gem start)?
Do you have to have peaceful and non-spiritual opponents in order to make this work?
[WARNING]Long, rambling post below. Surprised? I know I run on a lot, and my advice must be taken in light of my level of play, which is not very high. These posts are as much for my own benefit, as a way to digest and analyze my games. I have "bulbed" quite a few things while typing out here. A good percentage of the posts I start never even get posted, because I've walked myself through the situation. For those who take the time to read, I thank you, and input is always welcome. Man, even the disclaimer is long...[/WARNING]
I chose Confucianism to spread because it came with a free missionary. I didn't start spreading it until I knew I had Theology locked up, and didn't actually adopt a religion myself until I had spread to all opponents and was ready to build the AP.
I didn't try for Buddhism, let one AI get it and be different religion than everybody else. Takes some of the heat off of me.
Choosing opponents...this is the real trick I think, if you don't intend to get enough votes through vassals. I went with random opponents since it was kind of a feeling-out game. Ended up with Hatty, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, Darius, Saladin.
-Hatty is very congenial if you share a religion, but prone to being conquered/vassalized. I got lucky in that she capitulated to Genghis Khan, who I also got to Friendly.
-Genghis was actually a great opponent in this -- probably because there was plenty of jungle between us.
-JC was my neighbor to the east, and the only one who took a swipe at me (at pleased, same religion. I was just too weak). I gave him meditation and monotheism for peace after I neutralized his pathetic invasion force and pillaged his iron. I'm not sure I would choose him again.
-Hannibal was the most unpredictable, I would definitely not choose him again. He had a penchant for Christianity, was very near impossible to get out of cautious when running a different religion. He built the Paya and ran Free Religion pretty quickly. I have never built that wonder but I may just to keep it out of AI hands.
-Darius, predictably, teched like a fiend and was pretty docile. Would have been a terrific ally had Saladin not gotten to him first with Buddhism. Attempting to secure his votes by force now. Good trading partner despite religious differences.
-Saladin was quiet the whole game. Occasionally demanded I stop trading with Hatty, but beyond that I didn't hear from him. Didn't attack anyone, didn't draw anyone's fire. I'd consider choosing him again since he'll happily grab up any religions you miss.
I think if you are trying to hoard all religions and think you can do it (and if I could do it on Monarch, only missing one that I tried for, it can't be that hard), having spiritual or otherwise religion-obsessed opponents can be a good thing. Strong bonuses from sharing state religion. On the other hand, since one will be your opponent in the voting, you don't want them to be too friendly with each other. This is where I think some of the maniacs come in handy. If you don't start right next to them and can really get on their good side, they'll likely grab a vassal or two of their own and can supply you with a lot of votes. The flip side of that is if they have the highest population with AP religion, they'll be your opponent in the vote, and vassal votes will go to them.
I'm going to take another shot at this one, I think I can tighten up the tech path even more, though I was pretty happy with it, especially my timing on the Oracle build with prereq research, This has never been one of my strong areas and I wanted to work on it in this game. I think playing a couple levels above my comfort zone made me a bit more strict with myself. I think I went wrong in going for CoL before Theology, though (cleaning up the tech path and getting Monotheism in time will help). Getting the AP built ASAP seems to outweigh. You need that vote to happen while the overall population is low low low. Which brings me to...
Needs improvement: Choosing when and where to spread religion. The 1-pop hovel you spread it to now may be a 10-pop city before you know it. Once you click that first missionary to spread the religion, its further spread is out of your control. Trade routes are also extremely important to keep in mind as they will quickly spread religions to any city without one. Religion abhors a vacuum. This was what burned me on Hannibal. I spread to one city via missionary, then he built another city along the road further in and it picked up the wrong religion by natural spread. I think if you see an opponent's city is likely to end up connected, drop a missionary with AP religion in it.
Also needs improvement: Diplomacy.