Game's code - faithless Pop growth makes cities forever harder to convert?

[4eeee]

Hello. I've been looking through game's source files for Brand New World trying to figure out the precise way religious pressure works in cities and I wanted to confirm one thing that seemed odd.

Relevant code is in CvReligionClasses.cpp. DoPopulationChange() method is responsible for what happens when a city's population grows:

Spoiler CvCityReligions::DoPopulationChange() :

void CvCityReligions::DoPopulationChange(int iChange)
{
    ReligionTypes eMajorityReligion = GetReligiousMajority();

    // Only add pressure if the population went up; if starving, leave pressure alone (but recompute followers)
    if(iChange > 0)
    {
        AddReligiousPressure(FOLLOWER_CHANGE_POP_CHANGE, eMajorityReligion, iChange * GC.getRELIGION_ATHEISM_PRESSURE_PER_POP());
    }
    else if (iChange < 0)
    {
        RecomputeFollowers(FOLLOWER_CHANGE_POP_CHANGE, eMajorityReligion);
    }
}

What caught my curiousity is that it always adds pressure to majority religion when city grows, and non-believer/NO_RELIGION pressure is not excluded from this as far as I can tell. Not only that, but non-believer pressure is the only type of pressure that can't ever be erased in any way.

As far as I can tell, the conclusion is that the longer a city grows with no majority pantheon/religion, the harder it will be to convert no matter what. Even if you use a prophet, unlike pressure from other religions which gets wiped out regardless of it's amount, the unbelievers are here to stay. On the flip side, if a city had majority religion from the time it had 1 pop, it will be extremely easy to flip it back and forth using Prophets or Inquisitors.

Am I correct in understanding that non-believers get rooted in the city forever, but a city that was extremely faithful to one religion can effortlessly be flipped to another with just a prophet? And that cities that grew large away from religions are a pain in the ass to convert? It just seems so strange that convincing people who never knew religion is harder than those who were converted a gazillion times, hm

Another interesting implication is that if a city has e.g. 50/50 split between two religions, the new pop will add a burst of non-believer pressure (GetReligiousMajority() returns NO_RELIGION if everything failed to achieve majority). So the new pops push back conversion progress AND again make city forever harder to convert.

Spoiler CvCityReligions::GetReligiousMajority() :

ReligionTypes CvCityReligions::GetReligiousMajority()
{
    int iTotalFollowers = 0;
    int iMostFollowerPressure = 0;
    int iMostFollowers = -1;
    ReligionTypes eMostFollowers = NO_RELIGION;
    ReligionInCityList::iterator religionIt;

    for(religionIt = m_ReligionStatus.begin(); religionIt != m_ReligionStatus.end(); ++religionIt)
    {
        iTotalFollowers += religionIt->m_iFollowers;

        if(religionIt->m_iFollowers > iMostFollowers || religionIt->m_iFollowers == iMostFollowers && religionIt->m_iPressure > iMostFollowerPressure)
        {
            iMostFollowers = religionIt->m_iFollowers;
            iMostFollowerPressure = religionIt->m_iPressure;
            eMostFollowers = religionIt->m_eReligion;
        }
    }

    if ((iMostFollowers * 2) >= iTotalFollowers)
    {
        return eMostFollowers;
    }
    else
    {
        return NO_RELIGION;
    }
}

 

[psparky]

Yes, I think that is correct, with the possible exception of the last part about a 50/50 split - I think this can still result in a majority religion, although that might be only in the mod I usually play.