Is it viable to get a religion on Emperor difficulty without Stonehenge?

[Leathaface]

I have been playing Emperor for a bit and I go for my usual combination of Scout> Scout > Shrine. (sometimes if the scout takes long I go for shrine second.)

But on Emperor I have a hard time getting my own religion. I now I can build Stonehenge and get one, but I don't usually go down the route of building Stonehenge.

 

[fallout3dc]

stonehenge is not needed at all. IDK what civ you are playing as but if you are having issues, then I would choose a better pantheon and allying with religious city states along with getting a temple and Holy temple (national wonder). It is really easy to get a religion going on emperor difficulty to be honest.

 

[Gigaz]

General advice for getting a religion quickly:

-At least 2 scouts to find religious city states and faith huts (after turn 20)
-If there's a faith producing natural wonder nearby, settle there.
-The quests of religious city states should be done with high priority and you should not take a worker from such a city state
-Take a pantheon that produces faith
-If you want to have a strong religion, choose Ethiopia, Mayans or Celts.

Usually I find it not difficult to get a religion on Immortal without Stonehenge.

 

[Chum]

I generally feel I have 2 avenues to get religion without stonehenge.

The first is a faith pantheon. Desert Folklore is awesome, tundra one isn't bad, gems and pearls, something like that. If you can pull 4 faith per turn with no extra effort on your part, you're usually set.

The second way is a short detour to pick up Theology before civil service. You're going to education anyway and you need them both anyway. This allows you to snag Hagia Sophia and ensure you get one. The AI usually puts a lower priority on that wonder than the other 2 that come from Theology. If I have a culture or food pantheon due to my starting location, that's generally my plan. Stonehenge is fine and all, but honestly, when I'm at the point when I'd be building Stonehenge, I'm building settlers, and I have comparatively less things to do when HS is available.

 

[4N4C0ND4]

I only fail to religion on Deity when I play on huge (10 civs). Because in those circumstances I can't even found a Pantheon (never knew that special rule when X civs have enhanced, you can't even found a Pantheon...)

On standard map, after a BO of Scout - monument (I play lib) - Shrine and a choice of a smart Pantheon, I would say I will found 75% of the time. Alas usually in the last with crappy beliefs

Btw, you should maybe give Peity a call: with only 2 points invested you half the building time and get a roughly 50% faith boost.

 

[Helmling]

I'm with Chum.

I play Emperor with 22 civs and I bum rush theology to get the Hagia Sophia. I'm usually able to snag a religion, though not always the best beliefs (I get really happy when I have my pagodas, appropriately enough).

 

[phillipwyllie]

Assuming you have no faith producing NW nearby, nor any dirt that can produce faith your goal is to build the HS. In my experience this is a coveted wonder by the AI, usually by the last one to found a religion. So unless you're playing as Babylon you need to pretty much beeline Theology. After you've researched Education you should beeline Physics for the ND, which is a coveted wonder by certain civs(France comes to mind, and America).

The above situation is a blessing in disguise IMO as for the first 100 turns you will not be focusing on religion at all which the AI will be doing and you will benefit from that.

My suggested build queue is scout->scout->worker(if you cant steal one)->granary(if you are still at pop 2)->settler->settler->TOA->library->NC->HS.
For satellite cities library->granary->worker/cargo ship. Depending on the dirt you might get Colossus in a satellite city.

 

[Uzael36]

Assuming you have no faith producing NW nearby, nor any dirt that can produce faith your goal is to build the HS. In my experience this is a coveted wonder by the AI, usually by the last one to found a religion. So unless you're playing as Babylon you need to pretty much beeline Theology. After you've researched Education you should beeline Physics for the ND, which is a coveted wonder by certain civs(France comes to mind, and America).

The above situation is a blessing in disguise IMO as for the first 100 turns you will not be focusing on religion at all which the AI will be doing and you will benefit from that.

My suggested build queue is scout->scout->worker(if you cant steal one)->granary(if you are still at pop 2)->settler->settler->TOA->library->NC->HS.
For satellite cities library->granary->worker/cargo ship. Depending on the dirt you might get Colossus in a satellite city.

Where is a shrine in all that? Are you saying that if you have nothing that would produce faith with a pantheon, to not even get one until you go for a religion? Will you end up skipping the pantheon when you get a free prophet?

 

[budweiser]

professor?

 

[Uzael36]

professor?

I was curious. I don't know the answers to my questions. It is an interesting idea if it works.

The biggest question is how founding a religion and that pantheon choice works. If you found a religion without a pantheon...do you still get to choose that belief or not.

 

[Heart Break Kid]

I play on Emperor and always get a religion, usually I'm one of the first to get one as well.

I usually take pantheons that generate faith, so that is probably the most simplest way to fix the problems you're having.

 

[Helmling]

I was curious. I don't know the answers to my questions. It is an interesting idea if it works.

The biggest question is how founding a religion and that pantheon choice works. If you found a religion without a pantheon...do you still get to choose that belief or not.

Yes, if you snag a great prophet from HS before you ever accumulated faith towards a pantheon (my usual method, actually) then when you found your religion you will get a chance to pair it with a pantheon.