How do you handle multiple religions

[LFaWolf]

I happened to "found" two religions - one is the state religion and the other I needed the tech. The second religion was founded near the center of my empire (btw, how does the game determine which city becomes the holy city of the religion) and is now spreading, but I don't want it to. I think I can change civic to prevent that but there is one civic that allows building +25% build speed with state religion. How do I stop the 2nd religion from spreading? thx.

 

[Rellin]

I have been wondering the same thing myself. I was also wondering if there are any negative effects of founding a second religion.

 

[Efexeye]

I don't ever see any negative effects of founding another religion, in fact, the more religions you have in your cities, the more money that comes in to the capital city. I try to found as many religions as possible!

As far as stopping the spread of religion, theocracy stops the spread of non-state religion.

As far as "which city- I don't see any patterns. The program seems to pick the city it wants!

 

[Black Guard]

I founded all but 1 religion on 1 of my games. It doesn't do anything new except that u can build more then 1 temple in 1 city if you have 2 religions in 1 city which you can have.

I usually go with the 1 i have most of, then go into mass production of missionaries and make sure my empire has my main religion in every city with others being a culture bonus in the way of temples.

 

[warpstorm]

You don't want the second one to stop spreading. Since you own them both you want both to be in every city of yours to increase the gold from shrines.

 

[TripleGemini]

Not only do you get gold when you have the shrines, once you go to the Free Religion civic I believe you get +1 for every religion in the city.

I've founded 4 religions in my current game and the 5th and 6th ones were spread in by a neighbor. I managed to found monastaries for them all before they were made obsolete and am working to spread them all in my lands.

 

[masterinhope]

Yeah as soon as you can get the free religion civic, ahving many religions seems to be a distinct advantage. To stop the non-state religion spreading choose the civic which enables that (press the ring in the top right n go from there)

 

[anomalek]

Sopmeone suggested that the computer randomly picks a base city for a newly acquired religion. I have not found this to be the case. The one "rule" I have observed is that in every case, when a new religion is founded, the computer will not place it in a city which has already founded a religion, as long as there is a city available which has not founded any religion.

My guess is that the selection criteria is order of construction of city, i.e., computer selects oldest city which has not yet founded a religion.

 

[LFaWolf]

Actually I have a city that has founded multiple religions, so that's not entirely ture.

 

[The Condor]

No, the religion generally goes to the city that's science count pushed the amount researched over the bar to the next tech and unfortunately that almost always is the newest city. However as I said earlier in some cases an older city can push the science to the next tech and then get the religion .

 

[Palantir30]

Back to the original question- why do you want the second religion not to spread? The more religions you have in each city, the more temples and monastaries you can build in each city, so you get more happiness, culture and science.

The only reason not to have more relibions is if somone else founded that religion and you dont want to give them LOS or money from their shrine. If you founded the religion, you dont have those problems and you get even more bonuses.

And for the record, I have had more than one Prince level game where I founded all the religions. Well, one of those Isabella founded Buddhism, the Barbarians destroyed her and I took the city and then placed the shrine. That kind of counts. But in another one, I actually did found all 7 religions and the holy cities went to the same city.

 

[LFaWolf]

I think I was being narrow minded choosing the civic that gives state religion city a +25% building bonus. I didn't explore other options. Hey I am new to Civ4

And thanks for the explanation of which city becomes the holy city!

 

[Yosh]

Just to throw my hat in the ring.. If you've founded both religions, I'd encourage you to build bunches of missionaries and make sure every one of your cities has both religions and then start indoctrinating your neighbors in your state religion.

The 25% increase civic doesn't care how many religions your cities have, just as long as one of them is your state religion. Temples, the 2nd level building, and Monasteries are a must for any of the religions you have in your cities. They give you happiness, culture, and science so it's a good idea to actively spread your religions, especially within your own civilization.

 

[The Condor]

Your welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Marquez]

The main reason you want your want your founded religions to spread is cash, cash, cash. Every time you found a religion try and pump out a prophet and build the appropriate religion's shrine. Then try and spread all the religions to each of your cities. The +1 gold for each city can really pay off in the long run and is practically free money.

After your home cities are taken care of you should move on to your rivals. This also has the added benefit of the possibility of converting them later on. You can even use your new found gold to help convert them!