Getting a religion on Emporer, with India

[MeowZedong]

Emporor Standard Epic. I can't seem to do it, don't know what I'm doing wrong. I rush shrines, got goddess of fertility because i want to go tall (something I've never really done before). I got 3 cities out and shrines up. Still didn't make it in time. Tried 3 times. Now I'm just playing on king out of frustration.

 

[neo_arcadia]

How many civ? How many allowed religions?

 

[MeowZedong]

How many civ? How many allowed religions?

8, and 4. All default for standard map

 

[neo_arcadia]

4??
Damn I played too much on huge map lol.

How many turns left before you can get a great prophet? If it's like 5 turns or less maybe you should pray to RNGesus to give you faith ruins.
But seriously, failed at 4 allowed religions and with 35% discount on great prophet? That's a tough pill to swallow, I agree.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Maybe try a different pantheon? Goddess of Fertility seems a bit light on faith generation. Perhaps something like Goddess of Love would work better?

 

[CrazyG]

I've always really liked playing India, but perhaps he isn't the easiest civ to play. I'd say he is the second most unique civ (behind Venice) because he approaches religion so differently than anyone else.

The Indian UA means you effectively start 330 faith ahead of other civs in the religious race. This is a huge head start (Aztec's UA would need to kill 55 warriors to match that!)

Its about choosing the right pantheon. I find if you take a faith heavy pantheon but build monument first everywhere, you get a good balance of early religion but solid culture. Ideally you take a pantheon which does something on turn 1. Good choices include Goddess of Beauty, Wisdom, Expanse, or Protection. Beauty and Expanse are both able to get a religion on just one city (with India).

If you take fertility you probably want to build monument->shrine->well (research mining first). Save gold and try to settle your next cities on top of forest, immediately invest the shrine. I would hesitate to choose this pantheon if I was on a river. I'm not sure this is a great choice for India though, just because its slow to develop. Turn 01 pantheon is a powerful tool to abuse, in my opinion you should really consider something with an early effect. The main reason I wouldn't take one of those is probably to take spirit of the desert instead.

Love is really powerful long term, but a bit slow to start

 

[neo_arcadia]

Wait, fertility is not the one that give faith from born citizen? I thought that was it? Or is it the one that give faith and food from.. granary perhaps?

 

[CrazyG]

Wait, fertility is not the one that give faith from born citizen? I thought that was it? Or is it the one that give faith and food from.. granary perhaps?

Fertility is +1 faith +1 food from shrine/well/watermill, and +15% food growth

Love gives faith and each time a citizen is born

 

[doublex55]

Is fertility even good, ever? Only india and byzantine could possibly found with such tiny faith, unless you went super wide spam shrine->well, in which case the extra growth will kill your happiness. As you said there are much better pantheons for India. Maybe it needs a buff.

 

[randomnub]

I'm sure Fertility is the only pantheon I never picked. If it was +%food maybe, for some late game plan, but +% growth sounds like something that'd work only for India (other food-heavy civs can't realistically found with it), and we have an example of it not ending that well here It could give the same boost to Palace maybe, or even +1F to fresh water farms instead of growth (worker first viable!), or a rework.

 

[neo_arcadia]

I'm going to try it with the new Inca lol. Might as well commit to Temple of Artemis too.

 

[Owlbebach]

God of Commerce + Progress + worker first might be a good idea. As i pointed out in my other post about India - roads help you to spread Religion

 

[Funak]

Fertility is a pretty decent pantheon, but there's no real reason to go for it with India

 

[CrazyG]

I've taken Fertility before (but not with India). If you plan to go shrine first everywhere and most of your cities can build wells rather than watermills its not bad. Its never my plan A, but its a decent plan B if what you want gets taken

If you want a long term growth thing as India, Love seems appealing

 

[tu_79]

The key for Fertility is to not settle near fresh water, water mills won't be useful for founding. Then you may ask yourself if you want to found with a pantheon that gives extra growth, so you can delay granaries for a while. Delaying a cheap building is something I don't want when going Progress. Not settling near fresh water is something I don't want when going Tradition. In the long run, extra growth doesn't matter. So ideally it's for Authority.

 

[CrazyG]

The key for Fertility is to not settle near fresh water, water mills won't be useful for founding. Then you may ask yourself if you want to found with a pantheon that gives extra growth, so you can delay granaries for a while. Delaying a cheap building is something I don't want when going Progress. Not settling near fresh water is something I don't want when going Tradition. In the long run, extra growth doesn't matter. So ideally it's for Authority.

Keep in mind that lakes and oasis provide fresh water, but can still build wells and baths

 

[tu_79]

Keep in mind that lakes and oasis provide fresh water, but can still build wells and baths

Oh, right, but those are rare in my games when I'm considering pantheons. If there are big lakes, I prefer the river pantheon. If there are oasis, I prefer the desert one. But will consider Fertility now if the terrain is too diverse.

 

[Workerspam]

Then you may ask yourself if you want to found with a pantheon that gives extra growth, so you can delay granaries for a while. Delaying a cheap building is something I don't want when going Progress.

Just because you can afford to delay a building doesn't mean you have to. Fertility + Granaries = even more growth.

I often found with Fertility when going Progress (on Emperor). As long as the conditions are right (few rivers, no obvious alternative pantheon) it often comes down to whether I can afford to take a pantheon with no culture.

 

[MeowZedong]

Okay well i know where i messed up at then thx folks XD i thought Fertility was my go-to because of the growth boost. whoops lol. will definitely think more towards early game pantheon choices.. thank you!

 

[SuperNoobCamper]

i gave up on trying to found a religion on the exact mentioned settings after loing the race to the last prophet by just one freaking turn three times in a row as brazil, inca and spain.