Given that religion has always been about 'hearts and minds' and numbers of believers, to reduce it to grabbing Relics - especially when many religions consider such objects to be sacriligeous - is at the very least, insulting to the whole concept of religion.
I can't see them adding back a religous victory like we had in Civ6 but if they do i hope we have the option to toggle it off. While i used faith, i didn't like religion or its victory.
We already do. It's the Exploration Age Culture Legacy. Civ7's post-Antiquity Culture Legacy path is very dissatisfying and another thing I hope gets reconsidered in the future. (I also consider Civ6's and Civ7's to tie religion directly victory conditions ill advised. I much preferred Civ4 and Civ5 where religion was an asset in pursuing various victories but not a victory condition in itself. I always turned it off in Civ6, not that it altered AI behavior.)
Well in game you get those “skulls” by converting “hearts and minds”
But in 7 religion doesn't have it's own legacy path, or final victory in the modern age, that was replaced with an economic victory which i prefer.
It's became like Age of Empires 2, there (though I dearly love that game, and still play it), where the Monk goes out and gathers relics to put in the Monastery for a Gold trickle, and uses the Convert ability on enemy buildings and units.
There's a belief that allows you to convert them by sending a trade route to that settlement.
There is no pressure system. Religion can be spread by trade as explained but that requires you to choose the belief that unlocks this conversion method.
I like your ideas, and I'd add a defensive policy that imposes a short cool down on conversion - nothing is more irritating than missionaries slipping in on the last turn of the age (after you've finished your moves, natch) and flipping your city. Or worse, when it happens during the plague crisis, which is why I turn crises off.
Yup, the "Dawah" belief unlocked with Theology, and it's my go-to pick because it has a several advantages that may not be immediately apparent:
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Yup, the "Dawah" belief unlocked with Theology, and it's my go-to pick because it has a several advantages that may not be immediately apparent:
And that's why I say "Dawah or die"
- It will fully convert a settlement that's already following another religion (i.e., it converts both urban and rural at once)
- Though it's more expensive due to the escalating merchant cost, it's generally more efficient, as it you're probably going to send merchants anyways, so you can save missionaries for domestic conversion.
- It's also faster, as you can produce merchants everywhere without needing a temple first.
- It's easy to do a rough optimization (i.e., little micromanagement needed) by producing a merchant then using the map (rather than the left panel) to send them to local trading partners.
- Locally-sourced merchants also minimize trade route lag, so you don't end up sending two merchants to the same city. (Not that I've done that
- To optimize local sourcing for the settlements, click on an existing merchant on its way to establish a route. The left panel of target settlements will appear. Clicking on a settlement will not change the merchant's destination, but will move the map to that settlement so that you can determine nearby settlements to use to produce a merchant.
- If, like me, you lower the number of AI players to make Distant Lands less populated, Dawah pairs well with Icons belief, which gives two relics on your first-time converting a "city state" (yes, they call it that). Note that the IP must still have a suzerain, which is consistent in that a suzerain is required both to establish trade routes and convert with a missionary. No cheesing that, sorry.
Go for it. My main driver is that because I lower the number of AI players; I can't use the capital conversion belief. But my pants would spontaneously combust if I didn't admit to liking the min-maxing of using mostly merchants.
