How to deal with AI going for religious victory?

[Gtdead]

Hey,

In my last two deity games, the AI won a religious victory at turn 200ish. I never bother with religion so I don't know how to counter it. I usually play on continents and I focus on eliminating my neighbors and teching/building infrastructure till turn 180~, but what usually happens is that one AI gets way ahead of the others and it's almost impossible to defeat him fast enough.

Any tips?

 

[Xger]

Declare war when you see their religious units coming toward you and wipe them out. If they never convert you, they don't win.

 

[TurboJ]

It may be necessary to sweep that civ off the planet in some cases, before they get religious majority everywhere. Sad but true...

 

[CaiusDrewart]

The Religious Victory is the only condition the AI can really win at the moment. I've never lost to it, but I've come very close a couple times. Like the OP, I tend to forgo building my religion.

I think this is what you need to do to be safe:

Check the Religious Victory tab whenever you see a Civ trying to convert you. If there are multiple Civs that seem to have strong religions going, then you're very likely safe. But if the converting Civ seems to have the most widespread religion and/or the strongest faith output, kill all the religious units on sight. The AI doesn't escort its apostles with military units and almost never poses a military threat after turn 50 or so in Civ VI, so this shouldn't be a huge problem. Diplomacy will become a mess, but it can't be helped.

My policy is also never to let an AI convert me in the early game, unless I'm planning to kill that AI very soon. The upside of the religion is not worth the risk that that Civ will go crazy spreading it later. And that could just completely ruin your game.

If you want to have religious bonuses in your Civ, exterminate a neighbor who founded a religion and spread it to yourself using the captured holy sites. That's risk-free.