How do you deal with religion

[War4War]

Do you welcome outside religions or you fiercely fight them out? My gut reaction was to keep all religions except the one I founded out of my cities. But I'm starting to wonder. There are so many benefits:

1. More culture since you can build several temples, monasteries, cathedrals.
2. More happiness for the above reason and with free religion civic.
3. You can pick the religion of the civ you want to improve relations with. It could help trade a lot.

Of course there are drawbacks:

1. You're giving gold to an opponent by spreading his holy city's religion into your cities.
2. The holy city dude sees all your "infected" cities.
3. Your cities will flip to the holy city dude more easily.

What's your approach? I find that holding on to a religion that no one else has really hurts trade, and that sucks.

 

[warpstorm]

I try to get as many religions as possible into as many cities as possible.

 

[Finite Monkey]

Yep, as many religions/city as possible here as well. I do not believe the AI will vastly alter its goals by seeing your cities. And if an enemy CIV has the holy city you can always go and take it from them.

 

[War4War]

So I suppose you guys go for open borders a lot? I guess I was being to xenophobic...

 

[narmox]

Yes the AI does alter its goals by seeing your cities, it tries main attack and some sneaky little fleets that go behind the lines to strike where you're weak etc. True it's not that big a factor.

I think what matters more is the penalty for refusing to convert to their religion - if you don't have any of their religions in your cities, they cannot ask you to convert, therefore you can't have diplomatic penalties for refusing a demand. Only the penalties for being a heathen.

Then again, the bonus of multiple temples + free religion later in the game probably outweighs this?

Or more probably both are valid paths...

 

[niffweed17]

both are valid paths in different situations. for example, if you are looking for a diplomatic victory, then it might be a good idea to cooperate with the enemy and allow him to boss you around on the issue of religion, open borders, etc.

however, if you're going for a cultural victory, for example, you may need all the help you can get for building extra cathedrals and temples/monasteries if you have time.

 

[Rayjr]

I like to make sure I discover a religion early. I like the culture points. but after that I really don't worry about it I figure the more religions in a city the better it is when I convert to free religion.

 

[Toshiro126]

Let em in I say. It's useful when free religion rolls around. Also, if the majority of other civs have the same religion, it sometimes helps to flip to it if only in the interest of self-preservation. Also I like having the additional cathedrals, especially in a cultural victory situation.

As for the increased chance of flipping, I am normally leading in culture, so the chances of losing a city in a flip aren't something I normally worry about.

 

[TLHeart]

I love religion....Free spies!!! of course it goes both ways. But my early goals in war is to go and take the holy cities away from them, so that they support my military campagin. And the early bonuses one gets from religion helps a city grow, and your civilization. I open borders as quickly as possible, better trade, can send missionaries in as spies, map the territory, and convert cities. I send my choosen religious missionary with every settler I send out, and get the 1 culture per turn from the day the city is founded.

 

[SUNREGENT]

I like having alot of religons for the cuture, best way to win for me. But I have run into a problem with the religion not really spreading to too many city to allow me to build missioneries to really get it going. Even when I build the holy temple in the holy city, you can not produce and missioneries.

 

[Larsz]

Found all the religions yourself! With Mysticism start on Noble difficulty, I can almost always found every religion and still get Archery. On Prince difficulty, founding 3-4 is obtainable, not sure about higher than Prince yet.

 

[spiceant]

on lower difficultys i go for theocracy asap (stonehenge GP -> christianity + theocracy) and raze all citys that have any other religion so that their holy citys dont fuel my enemys, after which i settle the spot with a settler and let christianity spread under my theocracy, under my theocracy civic all citys with rax make lv 3 units which fuel my holy crusade against superstition. i play japan, so it may seem a litle odd to have me lead christianity.

as for when i play emperor, i completely ignore the religion techs and trade for them at some point in the future, i find the economic and military techs much more important, i convert to any religion that seems the best to be (judaism if my continent is jewish)

 

[Rameau's Nephew]

To me, it's usually not worthwhile to go for one of the 1st three religions. Other early techs are more important (resource revealing and defense take precedence). I'll make a push to try to found Confucionism or Taoism in the mid-game if a neighbor's faith hasn't spread to my cities (I usually don't have the prereqs for Chrisitianity or Islam).

 

[genjiboy]

I welcome all religions, but don't switch to a state religion unless there is a benefit beyond the +1 happiness. I'm talking the useful civics that require a state religion.

Personally, I've never noticed an AI opponent building shrines in his holy cities. Or, at least not in the ones that I've forcefully taken from them

Do shrines get destroyed when you take holy cities?

 

[shadow2k]

I welcome all religions, but don't switch to a state religion unless there is a benefit beyond the +1 happiness. I'm talking the useful civics that require a state religion.

Personally, I've never noticed an AI opponent building shrines in his holy cities. Or, at least not in the ones that I've forcefully taken from them

Do shrines get destroyed when you take holy cities?

They don't get destroyed. I've had games where I've captured all seven shrines.

I completely ignore religion, hardly ever found one unless it's an accident. I only convert to one when I need an ally for war, or to keep an ally from getting pissy with me.

 

[garner_adam]

Unlike Spiceant's crusading Japan I use religion for diplomacy. I nearly always end up joining one of the "religious blocs" in the early game. This makes tech trades easier... and if it does come to war I know I'm crushing the heathens!

 

[CivCorpse]

I welcome all religions, but don't switch to a state religion unless there is a benefit beyond the +1 happiness. I'm talking the useful civics that require a state religion.

?

Only one of the five doesn't require a state religion. By remaining a heathen you lose building speed (OR) 2 exp (theo) GP production (Pass). The remaining civic doesn't arrive until about midgame with liberalism. So basically you have spent 1/2 the game missing some benefit from your civics. And considering the economic civics usually don't pop up until about then you have bypassed 1/3 of your civic power. That and you have hindered your growth by one happy face. Just to stay neutral in a world where you are going to get attacked anyway? And when yopu do, you will have no allies. Your army will be weaker (no +2 exp), your research will be slower (took longer to build libraries/universities) and you will have one less citizen cranking out units, that's one PER city. Would have been nice to see those troops massing for war in your neighbor's cities if you had only built that shrine and spread your religion all over......and had the enemy PAY for the priveledge of letting you see his troops.

 

[CivCorpse]

Ooops I think I might have misunderstood your meaning. You meant you DO switch when there is a benefit, well the benefits come pretty quickly since OR is a third tier tech. Please disregard my previous rant. Though I like the +1 happy from a state religion. If i don't start near lux rescourses i tend to hit the happy limit quite quickly.