Getting rid of holy cities?

[oPunchDrunko]

How do you stop faith from popping up when you capture a holy city and send an inquisitor to it? I puppeted a holy city, sent an inquisitor and about 10 turns later there was one follower and it started getting pressure.

Will I just keep having to send inquisitors to the city to keep it in check?

 

[megabearsfan]

As far as I know, you cannot stop the passive religious pressure that is generated by a holy city. However, if you get enough competing pressure into that city and completely overwhelm the holy city's pressure, then you won't have to worry about it becoming a majority.

 

[Mr. Grieves]

Was the city still being pressured by other cities? Does it still say holy city in the tooltip?

 

[oPunchDrunko]

Was the city still being pressured by other cities? Does it still say holy city in the tooltip?

No it wasn't being pressured because I eliminated that religion from every city. It was only popping up in the holy city. I don't know if was still the holy city... I didn't bother to check.

 

[whoward69]

Inquisitor followed by a great prophet spreading religion kills a Holy City. You can then use trade routes, nearby city pressure or missionaries to remove any remaining followers from near by cities

 

[Mr. Grieves]

Perhaps even killed holy cities still emanate some pressure then. There's no way it will ever become the dominant religion in that city again though, if your own pressure is sufficient. Or maybe another civ following that religion set up a trade route?

 

[joncnunn]

To get rid of a Holy City status, you need:

1. To own the city.
2. Two inquisitors.

On the same turn use the first Inquistor to remove all followers from the holy city and the second to remove holy city status.
Note that you have to do this the same turn, or else internal pressure will cause the holy city to regenerate a follower.

To simply convert a holy city to your religion, you normally need a Great Prophet (wipe out their followers plus get yours to majority status) but to keep it this way you really need to be putting out enough passive influence to maintain your majority status over the internal pressure.

 

[LoneRebel]

To get rid of a Holy City status, you need:

1. To own the city.
2. Two inquisitors.

On the same turn use the first Inquistor to remove all followers from the holy city and the second to remove holy city status.
Note that you have to do this the same turn, or else internal pressure will cause the holy city to regenerate a follower.

To simply convert a holy city to your religion, you normally need a Great Prophet (wipe out their followers plus get yours to majority status) but to keep it this way you really need to be putting out enough passive influence to maintain your majority status over the internal pressure.

I must have made a mistake (although it was also an experiment to begin with). In the hotseat game my friend and I are playing, I used one Inquisitor on Siam's capital after capturing it. We've played dozens of turns after that and still no follower of that religion has reappeared. However if what you say is true, then the city still has its passive Holy City religious pressure.

I'll keep an eye out as the game progresses to see if a new follower appears. Perhaps one Inquisitor is all that's needed...

Whether it's one or two, what we know for sure is that it is Inquisitors and not Great Prophets that remove holy city status, correct?

 

[Pegasus_77]

sometimes i find a holy city is not easy to deal with

 

[beetle]

Whether it's one or two, what we know for sure is that it is Inquisitors and not Great Prophets that remove holy city status, correct?

Just one inquisitor is needed. Yes, only inquisitors (and not Great prophets) have the power to remove holy city status. It is often helpful to follow-up the inquisitor with missionaries or Great prophets because sometimes the city ends up with no religion rather than your religion (but this seems less common than I would have expected). If you have captured an inquisitor from a third religion, they can work just as well as one of your own (but then you really do need to follow-up with a Great Prophet).

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

I must have made a mistake (although it was also an experiment to begin with). In the hotseat game my friend and I are playing, I used one Inquisitor on Siam's capital after capturing it. We've played dozens of turns after that and still no follower of that religion has reappeared. However if what you say is true, then the city still has its passive Holy City religious pressure.

I'll keep an eye out as the game progresses to see if a new follower appears. Perhaps one Inquisitor is all that's needed...

Whether it's one or two, what we know for sure is that it is Inquisitors and not Great Prophets that remove holy city status, correct?

You may just have had enough external pressure to keep its internal pressure from doing anything.

 

[phillipwyllie]

Check the religion overview window and see if the religion you have removed is still dominant in any cities. If there are no cities with that religion it is effectively dead, except the founder can produce great prophets to spread it again.

 

[Browd]

Also, if the religion you are trying to eliminate has taken the reformation belief Unity of the Prophets, you cannot eliminate the holy city character, no matter how many inquisitors you try to use.

 

[reddishrecue]

You really can't get rid of holy cities since the pressure from the shrine comes back in the future. When the pressure from the shrine returns, use the inquisitor again to make sure that the religion is gone for good or until the next comeback pressure regeneration.

 

[Browd]

This is not correct. Shrines and other religious buildings have nothing to do with religious pressure.

Aside from the Unity of the Prophets issue, if you use an inquisitor on a holy city that you own, the holy city character is erased. Yes, pressure from other cities may result in the religion reappearing in the former holy city, but it will never regain its unique holy city character (extra internal pressure, ability to build Grand Temple or Borodubur, etc.).